Technically A Couple
by Raider7997
Summary: It's been a year since the battle with the Red Death and not alot has happened. Except theres alot of talk about who will become the next chief and maybe some flirting between everyones favorite HTTYD couple. Hiccup and Astrid. But what will happen when Hiccup is sent off to train for the possibility of being the next chief and how will he be different when he returns.
1. Prologue

**Prologue **

**Hey thanks for deciding to give this story a shot it is my first ever try at writing a story outside of school. I would love to hear what you guys think about each chapter, and I plan to update at least once a week (Warning: Updates be postponed due to busy schedule or writers block). Also this story includes some details and characters from the series and some others fan fiction stories as well (If you notice the ones from other stories then please don't keep pointing them out. I do not admit to completely copying the ideas as that these ideas are repeated throughout a lot of HTTYD fan fiction, the ideas are just so good or well used in previous stories that I decided to alter them and use them in this story, I also congratulate you on reading fantastic stories hopefully this will be one you enjoy.) So kick back relax and enjoy the reading. **

**P.S. I don't mind if reviews are good or bad I want to hear your guys' thoughts and suggestions. Also I do not own HTTYD at all.**

_**(1 year after the defeat of the Red Death. I assumed Hiccup and the gang were all around the age of 15 in the movie so that's what I'm going with.)**_

Hiccup sat atop his mighty and powerful, but also currently depressed best friend, Toothless, as they soared through the blistering wind as they circled the island of Berk. It was early in the morning and the sun wasn't even close to coming up yet so Hiccup would probably be feeling a mix of excitement and sadness if he wasn't so tired. Today was a very important day, before he had killed the Red Death, Hiccup had not once been thought as a possibility for next inline as chief, but thanks to his now called 'Hero-Status' he was instantly nominated for the position by the council of elders.

And this was the reason for his excitement. The reason he was feeling upset was because of the 2 beings in his presence right now. Obviously one was Toothless, his first true friend, and the other was probably the most important person in his life, as that status was only fought for by Toothless and her. Astrid Hofferson. As she clung to his waist during the flight he couldn't help but think about how much more a part of his life she had become since the encounter that fateful day with the monstrous queen dragon.

She had only let him out of her sight to sleep at night due to the fact that her mother had forbidden her from spending the night in Hiccup's room after he recovered from his unconscious state. It had become obvious to everybody, but Hiccup that she had feelings for him; she had begun to wonder if he would ever catch on to her true feelings. She didn't understand how, but her rough Viking exterior always seemed to fade away around him, nevertheless she always wanted to be around him for reasons only known to her. Though it was never said before by anyone she liked to think that she and Hiccup were technically considered dating, but she would never tell anyone that. But still every day she would appear at his front door in morning to greet him usually around breakfast time with a caring and happy smile.

This day however was different. Because he was nominated to be next in line for chiefdom he must go to train and learn how to be a good chief. This was done by taking all the nominees, which also included Snotlout, Fishlegs, and even Tuffnut, to a far off island where they would be trained by none other than Gobber himself. Gobber was the perfect choice to train the boys because he was second in command of the village and him going would leave Stoick able to stay and protect the village. The amount of time the training would last would be decided by the trainer, and this was what caused Hiccup's sadness, because to make sure everything was fair the nominees were only allowed to take with them only what they could carry which meant no dragons or technically considered girlfriends. The training usually lasted from 1 to 2 years, even worse some nominees never returned! But now was not the time for such fears, Astrid was in a much more fearful state right now and she needed his full attention when they landed.

As Toothless touched down on the cliff that overlooked the harbor below Hiccup could see the ship that he was to depart on was almost done being loaded. He unclipped his prosthetic and slid down off of Toothless without a word and then proceeded to assist Astrid off as well. Usually the mighty Astrid Hofferson would never allow anyone to help her with anything, but for now she gladly accepted the small token of kindness. She now stood before him he only slightly taller than her, he had grown a little, but this was only noticed by the two in these situations of awkward silence.

She looked into his dark green eyes and began to cry as she broke down in front of him, he caught her in his arms as she fell to her knees. They sat there together as she cried into his shoulder as he held her in a tight embrace, and they stayed like that for what seemed like forever until Hiccup broke the silence which was strange for his usual shy attitude around her. "Astrid everything is going to be alright I promise"

She suddenly stopped crying and looked into his eyes. "How do you know." She spoke softly as she wiped a single tear from her face.

Hiccup didn't know how to respond to this so he stood there looking into her still watering eyes as he tried to think of something to say. When nothing came to him another idea slowly came into his mind. He hesitantly leaned closer and closer to her, and she instantly knew what he was about to do and was surprised. In the year since the war with dragons had ended he had never made the first move in these very rare situations of them showing the desire to be more than friends. She gladly leaned in the rest of the way and they met with a very short, but passionate kiss.

After the kiss ended he began to speak, but Astrid put a finger to his mouth and said, "Just promise me you will come back okay." All Hiccup could do was nod.

He then took her face into his hands and fully leaned in to kiss her again as he heard Gobber calling him to the ship. He began to pull away when he stopped to look into her eyes. Another tear was rolling down her cheek and he wiped it away with his thumb, and embraced her once more and whispered into her ear, "I promise."

He then walked down the long path down the cliff side as she watched him go, she saw him turn to look at her one last time as he stepped onto the plank leading to the ship as Gobber followed behind him. Just as the ship lowered its sails the sun began to peek out on the horizon its bright rays reflecting off the vast sea. And ever slowly she watched as the ship sailed away with the boy she was crazy about, carrying him farther and farther away from her.

**Well that's the first chapter so what did you think? Let me know what you think as soon as possible. I hope to have the next chapter up by tomorrow at the latest or maybe in an hour or so because I feel really good about my writing so far. Sorry if it was too short or too long like I said I'm new to this, and I really hope to get better. The next chapter will start on the day of the ships return.**


	2. Chapter 1:Finally home

**Chapter 1**

**I wanted to leave the prologue up for a while before I posted the first real chapter. So here is the chapter hope you enjoy. **

It has been about a year and five months since she and Toothless had stood here together on that same cliff on the frigid morning where the most important person in their lives had left them with a scratch under the chin for one and a very passionate and thrilling kiss for the other. Astrid had spent the week after that in her room alone not wanting to speak to anyone for fear that Hiccup would be brought up in conversation. After that week filled with sorrow and self-pity she decided to occupy her mind with other things such as keeping the dragon academy going, chores, and her own training. She had been pretty successful with this plan and only drifting off to daydreams about Hiccup only five times a day (which she was particularly proud of). That was until recently when she heard some gossip between her mother and Stoick about how the ship she hated so much would return any day now, the ship that took him away from her.

Every day since she would awaken before the sun would rise and go 'casually and inauspiciously' walk by the pier in an attempt to catch sight of the Berkian sails. Eventually the other teens that were still on the island joined her. Obviously this included Ruffnut and another not as obvious companion, Heather. The minute Heather arrived on Berk Astrid had tackled her and demanded a reason for her return with her axe blade against the poor brunette's vulnerable neck. Her answer came with a sputtering of apologies and the statement of wishing to learn more about dragons for real this time.

But that was almost seven months ago and seeing as how Hiccup was not around and nothing suspicious had occurred since her arrival, Astrid eventually decided she was telling the truth. In fact without the constant fear of Heather stealing Hiccup from her, Astrid had actually discovered that she had a lot in common with the girl and they actually became friends a little.

Ruffnut was a different story though. Astrid had heard a lot of rumors about the girl, who was obviously missing quite a few brain cells, circulating through the village about her offering 'special services' to some of the younger boys of about 13 and 14 as long as they had something in exchange. Whether or not this was true Astrid didn't care because she had caught Ruffnut in the act with several of her more disturbed or as she called them 'Snotlout like' students from the dragon academy.

Either way Astrid didn't mind them coming along, it was only when Toothless whom she hadn't seen very often since Hiccups departure began to appear and accompany her to the cliff that she got really excited. Because she knew if Toothless was coming that meant Hiccup can't be far away now. Occasionally in the first few months after Hiccup left she would take Toothless out flying, but she felt it brought back to many memories. So she simply attached his tail that allowed him to fly on his own, and from that point on she had rarely seen the allusive dragon. Maybe he felt the same way about the memories of his rider.

Today was different though, today Toothless had come jumping through her window with his original tail almost whimpering for her to put on. So a very half asleep and very half naked Astrid rose from under her many assorted fur blankets and went towards her dresser. To Astrid's disappointment she had become more girly since she started having feelings for Hiccup. She even went as far as requesting a mirror in her room, and every day she would fix anything about her appearance she thought she could improve. It was this morning though that when she passed the mirror on the wall of the dimly lit room that she noticed how much she had changed.

She had hit a growth spurt and not just in height. She was rather pleased with how her feminine attributes had filled out. She began to mentally compare herself to the girls of her age. She had kept her rather sleek figure despite the fact her hips had widened a bit, and her breasts were slightly bigger then Heathers, but much smaller then Ruffnut who she assumed was a D-cup as that she was only a B-cup. She had once gotten an almost a whisper of a compliment towards her hair style from Hiccup due to his shyness, and out of sheer excitement of his happiness with her appearance she always made sure her hair was in a perfect tight braid with her signature headband that was now slightly covered by her bangs. She loved to see that Hiccup was pleased about how she looked, and for that reason she decided to keep her hair perfect out of fear he may randomly come home one day.

Then she began to think about his appearance, of course she never was looking for a huge piece of pure muscle to fall in love with so she liked his rather scrawny body structure. His hair was always a cute little mess atop his head. And his eyes, oh how she wished she could get lost in them, as green as the greenest forests on Berk. She couldn't help but wonder how he had changed during his chief training. Then she came back to reality, right I'm supposed to be getting ready she thought to herself as she glanced over to the almost invisible dragon who gave her an impatient glare silently telling her to hurry up. A few minutes later she was ready and she Toothless took off flying through her window it was still very dark and if it weren't for the full moon she would have been flying blind. She and Toothless went straight to the cliff and as soon as she landed Astrid took the opportunity to slide off Toothless and lie down in a small patch of grass and drifted off to sleep. The somewhat irritated dragon didn't mind that much as he knew that these little humans needed lots of sleep based on how much Hiccup would sleep though Astrid didn't snore nearly as much. He covered the girl with his wing and lied his head down and looked out at the sea. He would not dare close his eyes for fear of not being the first to see what he knew would be at the docks at sunrise.

DING! DING! DING!

Astrid was instantly awake at the sound of the harbor bell. She and every other Viking on the island knew what it meant 'Ship in Sight'. Astrid nearly fell off the cliff trying to beat the crowd rushing down the path to greet their fellow Vikings returning home. The ship was quickly upon the docks and just as Astrid reached where the ship was now in port the boarding plank slammed onto the old rickety boards of the pier. She then saw an older gentleman with a lot more grey hair from the last time she saw him which she immediately recognized as Gobber. He then stepped to the side as four men walked down the plank as he let them pass. She quickly was able to identify three of them in order was Fishlegs Ingerson whose once pudgy exterior was now more densely compacted into muscle and he now sported a huge blonde beard on his chin. The next was Snotlout Jorgensen who looked almost exactly the same as his father Spitelout with the same half shave beard. The next was Tuffnut Thortson who now had much shorter hair that was in a small braid on his right shoulder. The fourth man who was taller but still skinnier then others she ignored for it was no one she recognized as she walked passed him onto the ship. She quickly walked up to the scruffy old man still on the ship and said one word "Hiccup?" with a worried look on her face.

From that point all five of the men from the ship were now about to die from laughter, then with a very strong and laugh filled voice the unrecognizable man stepped forward and uttered "Alright Gobber I owe you a barrel of mead tonight," with a haughty laugh after his statement. Astrid as well as the crowd that had accumulated at the docks began to then study the strange man. He was very tall with dark chestnut hair. He wore a light green tunic and leather vambraces and vest. On his belt was a shining pair of silver handled swords that were riddled with a variety of gems. He also wore a prosthetic on his left leg that Astrid hadn't noticed at her first observation of the man. He had a small beard and the skin you could see was covered in scars from what looked like a hundred battles. It was then that Astrid saw Stoick walk up to the man who was now standing next to a smiling Toothless. And as the chief spoke his next words Astrid's jaw dropped and she turned redder then a Monstrous Nightmare that just lit itself on fire.

"Welcome Home Son," The crowd immediately erupted into a very loud cheer and laughter. Astrid nearly fell into the space between the boat and the walkway into the water as she scrambled to the Hiccups side. She then tackled him into a bear hug as tears of joy ran down her cheeks. She then heard coughing and a voice a few inches from her ears speak her name as he struggled and gasped for air "Aaassssttrrriiiid…. Aaaaaiiiirrrr Pllleeeeaaasssseee!" She immediately loosened her grip, but remained on top of him not averting her gaze from his eyes. She could have stayed that way forever had he not whispered to her "Uh Astrid everyone is staring at us."

Again that deep red color came to her face as she sheepishly apologized and stood up, "Oops sorry about that."

She could care less about what the villagers thought so long as she was able to keep a constant connection to Hiccup as her knuckles turned white with the pressure she exerted on to his hand, intent on never letting him out of her sight again.

"Tonight we feast!" boomed Stoick with a huge grin on his face as his son stood next to him only slightly shorter than the chief.

Again the crowd cheered and everyone left to go make preparations for the nights festivities


	3. Chapter 2: Arguing at a Party

**Chapter 2**

**I know I said updates would be done once a week, but the ideas I'm getting for this story are constantly pounding into my head. So if you were wondering how or why I have posted 3 chapters in less than 24 hours that is your answer. I'll try to slow down the pace so you can have a better idea of when updates will come. Just right now I'm afraid of losing some of these ideas, so without further a due here is chapter 2.**

**P.S. Thanks for the reviews guys I hope I can reach the expectations and wishes you have for this story to be really good, but that means you need to let me know what you're thinking. If something needs changing or you have a suggestion let me know ASAP.**

Astrid still clung to Hiccup, like an infant to its mother, but she couldn't help but notice the awkward distance between them right now. I mean he didn't even say 'Hi Astrid' or 'I love you Astrid', but then again she had done nothing, but tackle the man into a bear hug and nearly strangled him to death. She didn't even fight back when she was accidently torn away from him as the crowd of Vikings rushed into the Great Hall for the traditional speech before the celebration could begin.

So without a word she proceeded to find a seat far from where she knew Hiccup would be, as she began to dwell on her thoughts. She of course knew how she herself had changed, but the constant questions continued to fill her mind 'What has changed on the inside?', and the more important one she accidently spoke aloud, "Does Hiccup still care about me?"

She quickly glanced around to see if anyone had heard her, but was relieved to see no one was paying her any attention. All eyes were now on the chief as he stood in front of the now silent group of Vikings and dragons.

_(Switch to Hiccup's POV)_

Hiccup sat at the side of his father in the Mead Hall with a lot of the things that just happened on his mind. One was the first few moments of his return. He thought back to the moment when his very soul was crushed as the girl of her dreams, who he now saw had been replaced by a beautiful Valkyrie, strolled past him without a second glance. Then only seconds later it was reborn again and filled with joy as the goddess before him question his goofy master of his where abouts.

This is when he and his only companions for the past year and a half had burst out laughing as they saw that the master blacksmith's prediction had come true. Although he hadn't noticed it he had gone through some major physical changes, but how could he have known that he had changed so much that Astrid wouldn't even recognize him. The moment he saw Astrid's dark red face he couldn't control himself so much that he didn't even see her charging clumsily toward him. Next thing he knew he was on the ground gasping for breath with the most perfect girl he had ever seen on top of him.

That was the second most wonderful experience in his life; the first was still that kiss he received after he awoke from his unconsciousness after the battle against the Red Death. The next thing on his mind though was much more haunting to his mind, of course he knew Astrid had missed him since his departure all those many months ago, but ever since they had left the port and had proceeded to the Meade Hall he had felt a great aloof and distant presence from Astrid who was still crushing his hand in hers. Eventually the slight pain in his now much larger hand was slowly fading to though she wasn't even there, and eventually he realized that she really was gone.

He began to search through the crowd surrounding him to find her, but to no avail. Eventually his father found him and began to carry him on his shoulders and followed by whooping crowd back to the Mead Hall, the celebration was ready to begin and it was time for the traditional speech. But Hiccup didn't care, all he wanted to do was find Astrid, but even after his training that had made him strong he was still no match for Stoick the Vast. As the Vikings barged through the great doors of the massive building Hiccup noticed two things one surprising and the other he chuckled to himself about how predictable it was.

The funny thing was when Vikings prepared for a celebration like this the only thing that is done is the rolling of very large barrels of mead from the back wall of the mighty structure to center so it was more 'accessible' to those who had trouble walking or even standing later in the celebration. The second and more important change in the room was Astrid sitting near some older men with a pensive and cold stare locked on the table in front of her. She obviously hadn't noticed him yet, and if he were able to move at his own free will he would have tried to do something to get her attention. But he had no such liberties at this point as his father dropped his son into a slightly smaller chair at his right side.

_(Back to the present, and Astrid's POV)_

It seemed like forever, but finally the vast man next to Hiccup was able to gain control over the crowd in front of him. His voice was loud and seemed to come from all directions.

"Today we welcome home those who we used to call our children." He said as he took a small glance to Hiccup with a grin. "But no longer do we look at them as troublesome boys of the village; No they stand before us today as men, as warriors, AS VIKINGS!" He boomed and it was returned with a loud cheer from the immense crowd.

Stoick waited until things settled down before he continued; "Now it is time for us to decide who will take the chiefdom after I am gone." Stoick was old and he knew it but it would still be at least another five years before he would have to retire and step down from his position. With that in mind he pressed on, "In 3 days we shall hold a tournament. There will be 3 events; a hunt, a dragon battle (riders battle each other while on dragons not against dragons), and of course a duel."

Astrid's heart stopped. She gazed upon the four men once again. Hiccup was not nearly as muscular as any of them and he thought for sure that this was a death sentence for her and Hiccup. She had nearly lost her soul to darkness when she thought Hiccup had perished in the battle against the Red Death; was lost without him for the past year and a half, but if he died right before her eyes she would surely die with him out of a combination of sorrow, fear, and heartbreak.

She immediately wanted to go talk Hiccup out of competing in the tournament, but she knew it would have to wait until she was alone with him. Astrid was so deep in thought she didn't hear Stoick finish the speech, like she cared anyway, but she saw it as her chance to get to Hiccup. Now that the speech was over Vikings everywhere were swarming towards the center of the room where the mead was.

When she saw him she was immediately enraged to the point of near explosion. There before her eyes were Heather and Ruffnut practically throwing themselves at Hiccup who just sat there with a confused look on his face. She was glad he didn't look to be enjoying it, but then Ruffnut did something that sent Astrid over the edge with rage. She kissed Hiccup, her Hiccup. And she was still doing it as she charged with a face blood red and full of anger. By now Heather had seen her coming and had quickly run off to another part of the hall. Astrid didn't care about her right now; her main priority was removing the slut from Hiccups lap. With full force she grabbed Ruffnut by her shoulders and tossed her to the floor she knew that Ruffnut was more than likely drunk already so she kicked her in the head to make sure she would stay down. Then with unnatural strength, even for her, she grabbed Hiccup by the wrist and dragged him out of the hall into a field with everyone behind her staring in shock and amazement. A certain very fearful and very drunk brunette peeked out from behind one of the columns as Astrid slammed the massive door behind her shut.

_(Behind the Mead Hall after the incident)_

"How could you do this to me Hiccup? How!" screamed a very angry and very upset Astrid. She was about to start crying when Hiccup spoke.

"How is what happened in there my fault I was trying to get them off to you know!" This made Astrid think for a minute. Ruffnut was bigger than her, yet it seemed very easy to lift her so she assumed that was what Hiccup was talking about. But this didn't change her mood she was less angry at him but even angrier that he was yelling back at her. But what happened next really caught her off guard, despite the fact that she had thought about the conversation through several times before, but this is not how she wanted it to happen.

Hiccup yelled again, "Why should you care any way you only liked me after I defeated the Red Death! You didn't care what happened to me before that!"

These words stung Astrid in the worse way possible, "I'm not just some … some groupie Hiccup." The tears were beginning to flow down her cheeks as she spoke.

All of a sudden Hiccup realized what he had just said as Astrid ran down the hill into the dark of the night. He was about to call Toothless when he heard a voice from behind him. "She's telling the truth you know."

Hiccup spun around to see Fishlegs standing up against a wall. "How much did you hear?" Hiccup asked already knowing the answer.

"All of it," he retorted with a sound of slight anger and disgust, "How could you think she was only interested in what you have done."

"Because of what Snotlout said on the ship during the voyage back. He said if I hadn't killed the Red Death then Astrid would be standing at the docks waiting for him instead of me, and that before that Astrid was the one who made the worse insults behind my back." Hiccup sputtered trying to explain himself.

"And since when do you listen to what Snotlout says?" This was a very good question why did he listen to Snotlout. "Also she did care for you before the Dragon Peace. That night you told everybody that you shot down Toothless well, afterwards we were all in the Meade Hall and Snotlout was making fun of you when Astrid punched him in the gut. She swore if he ever insulted Hiccup in front of her again she would cut his tongue out."

Hiccup sighed he had really messed up; he needed to find Astrid and apologize. He thanked Fishlegs as he quickly with new speed he had obtained from his training sprinting after Astrid.

**So let me know what you guys think I'm dying to know. Just so in case you're wondering I didn't make Hiccup and Astrid drunk because I wanted to focus on the argument that occurred the drunken couple will come later in the story. By the way thanks to you guys who have reviewed and followed this story it means a lot. Also I know it might be confusing but it will be easier to understand in the later chapters with everybody's age so here's a quick run through of it, At this point in the story it's been a little less than 3 years since the end of the movie: Hiccup, Fishlegs, and Snotlout are all 18. The twins and Astrid are 17, but (SPOILER ALERT!) I plan for it to be Astrid's birthday in one of the later chapters. Also Stoick and Gobber are in their late 40s which is pretty old for a Viking; the village elder I guess is like 60 so that's why she's the elder. Toothless I figured should be around the same age as Hiccup in dragon years. Alright that covers everyone I think now start reviewing I want to know what you guys think.**


	4. Chapter 3: The Cave

**Chapter 3**

**Hey guys glad to see you're still following the story I got some good news and some bad news. The bad news is that I'm getting rid of the whole one update a week thing. The good news is I hope to be updating at least once a day. I spent all day doing other things and I couldn't get my mind off what will happen next in the story. So I spent a majority of the day thinking about possibilities for this chapter and future chapters. Anyways I need reviews. Your guys' thoughts are what drive me to continue writing. Good or bad I don't care just let me know what you are thinking. So here is chapter 3.**

Astrid kept running and running as she heard him calling her name. She had gotten quite a head start on him, but probably due to his long training he was quickly tracking her down through the forest and she could hear him getting closer. She could only think of one place to go, Toothless Cove. She quickly turned in the direction of the cove and sprinted as fast as her feet would carry her. When she reached the wall of the cove she took a huge leap and landed near a group of boulders at the water's edge. She heard his voice again, Damn that training, she thought. Then out of the corner of her eye she saw a small opening in the cliff side. She peeked from behind the boulder and when she saw that the coast was clear she dashed to the opening and climbed in. Little did she know that the cave was much bigger then she had assumed; she suddenly felt herself falling until she landed badly on her left ankle as it buckled beneath her. She didn't have time to catch herself as she fell the rest of the way to the floor and when her head hit the floor she was knocked unconscious.

Astrid felt a very painful throbbing coming from her ankle, but even worse was the non-stop pounding in her head. She slowly gained awareness of her surroundings as she looked around. She was at the bottom of a deep cavern the only source of light came from the opening she had climbed through. The full moon shone brightly down into the cavern she could see only about five feet in front of her. She looked up again at the opening. It looked to be about 10 to 15 feet up.

"Hiccup are you up there, anybody please I need help!" Astrid Hofferson hated to ask for help, but she knew her situation was very dangerous she wouldn't be able to get out with her injured ankle that she now assumed was broken. She listened desperately for a voice, some kind of noise to end the haunting silence that surrounded her. She knew she had not been unconscious for long because just as she was about to call for help again she heard his voice very close now.

"Astrid where are you?!"

"Hiccup, I'm over here!" She heard the metal of his prosthetic hit the ground with every step.

"Astrid are you down there, are you alright?" She could hear the fear in his voice as he looked through the crevice that led to the large cavern.

"Yes, but I can't walk you need to get down here, but be careful." Without another word Hiccup skillfully jumped from down with a flawless landing. If she weren't in such pain then she would probably be very impressed. He then ran to her side and took her weak form into his arms, practically sobbing to her sputtering out apologies and promises to make things better. He then pulled away only slightly so he could look into her eyes.

"How bad are you hurt?" he said with the obvious pang of fear in his voice. She looked back into his eyes not able to turn away.

"I think my ankles broken." She said solemnly Hiccup moved to look at her ankle it was bent awkwardly and was bruised very badly. Hiccup took one sleeve of his shirt and ripped it off and used it to wrap up Astrid's foot to keep it from moving anymore.

"Any other pain," Astrid looked into his eyes again. She was feeling pain in a million places, but the one that hurt the most was her heart. She was about to say something about her head when he suddenly spoke again, "Astrid you're bleeding!" Astrid looked to her side it was a dark red with blood and the stain in her shirt was growing. Hiccup again tore off his other long sleeve and was about to tie it over the wound when he stopped.

Astrid look at him with a quizzical look he was almost frozen there when he spoke sheepishly trying to not move as much as possible, "Uh, Astrid … You need to take your shirt off; it will get infected if you don't." Astrid suddenly realized why he was so nervous. She and Hiccup had never gone farther than an occasional make-out session. She had always imagined what it would be like to go further, but now she was just as nervous as Hiccup was. But he was right if the shirt wasn't removed it could cause a serious infection that could kill her. So with no other options she hesitantly began to remove her shirt. She was glad to see another example of how Hiccup hadn't changed during his journey as he immediately turned away from her as the clothing slid over her head. When she said it was alright for him to continue he quickly tied the sleeve over the opening of the wound and put pressure on it to stop the bleeding. Once he was sure he removed his hand and again turned away from her body out of respect.

She was happy that he was so able to take care of her at a moment's notice, but two problems still stood, the first was the fact that Astrid was very cold and after her first sign of a shiver Hiccup picked her up to cradle her in his arms. He then walked to the nearest wall of the cave and set her down. Now Hiccup was taking off his shirt, but Astrid didn't, nor couldn't she turn away from him; she watched as every inch of his perfectly sculpted body was slowly being revealed. He then told her to put the shirt on and sat down next to her, and took her into his arms again and held her close. His face a bright shade of red as he saw her eyes were glued to his now bare chest. She sat there and enjoyed the sweet bliss of this moment. She had spent the last year and a half wishing for this moment, but she would never tell anyone this and if they accused her of enjoying it she would make sure to beat the crap out of them.

It was now that she realized how much Hiccups body had really matured. His previously scrawny and boney arms were now covered in a small layer of strong muscle, and his stomach used to be not even considered a stomach was now covered in beginner staged abs. While she noticed all these changes she realized that he still had many of his Hiccup features. For example, he didn't have as many, but his freckles were still evident on parts of his face. Also whenever Astrid had seen him do it she noticed that he still had his boyish cute smile, but she didn't think it was cute at all. His hair was still same except it was slightly longer in the back. She had to remember to cut it and shave that nasty beard whenever they got back. And of course his eyes, she would never tell anyone not even Stormfly how much she loved his eyes. She was once caught staring at them by Ruffnut, but she had quickly beaten her up and yelled how she was thinking about something.

Astrid hated to admit it, but she couldn't believe how much Hiccup had changed her. How was she supposed to keep her reputation as 'the toughest Viking girl ever' if she was constantly wondering what Hiccup thought of her? She already knew Hiccup cared about her by now, but it was Heather and Ruffnut that worried her (they definitely didn't scare her because Astrid Hofferson wasn't scared of anything. Right?) That's when she came back to reality, this was their entire fault. If they hadn't been all over Hiccup then she and Hiccup wouldn't have gotten into a fight. How dare she kiss Hiccup; everybody knew after the day Hiccup woke up from the battle with the evil queen of dragons, and that first real kiss that she cared for him. After all didn't that make them technically a couple? Astrid was about to say something along the lines, but not actually, an apology when Hiccup interrupted her.

"Astrid I'm so sorry this is entirely my fault. I never should have said those things, I'm sorry." He brought her closer as he said this. "Ow! Ow! Ow! " Astrid had pulled away so she could easily punch his arm as hard as she could three times.

"That was for yelling at me, for not trusting me, and making me cry. Oh wait!" She quickly punched him again which finally caused his arm to go numb for a few seconds.

"Ow! What was that one for?" he said rubbing now probably heavily bruised arm; hoping to regain feeling soon.

"That was for being gone so long." She said, but as she said this she leaned in for her signature kiss that she had always given him after punching him. It was long and hard if they both didn't need air it could have gone on forever. Eventually it had to end, and as soon as it did Astrid took a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself down. There would be a time and place for her to be all riled up, but it wasn't here or now. "That is for everything else." She said with a smirk. Hiccup couldn't help but chuckle at the familiar phrase that was said after situations like this.

"Wow Astrid Hofferson missed a 'hiccup'; never thought that would happen." He continued to chuckle as Astrid gave him a slightly more playful than aggressive shove.

"Shut up!" she said as she too began to laugh.

"Any other pain," Hiccup asked again with more concern towards how she was doing emotionally, but he wouldn't tell her that.

She sighed now fully leaning into Hiccups embrace again, she knew what he meant by this and decided it was probably best to forgive him so he did, "Yeah I'm all right. So the now the better question is how are we going to get out of here. There is no way I can climb out on my own." There she goes again she thought to herself she really needed to stop having to need help from others. After saying this she heard Hiccup chuckling again and she asked, "What's so funny?"

He said nothing as he picked Astrid up again. She was really amazed that he could lift her so easily now either she was lighter then she thought or he had definitely gotten a lot stronger since he had left. She liked to think of it as both; which she thought was really girly, but decided she didn't care anymore as long as Hiccup was the only one who could see her personality changing. She came back to reality when he spun her so she was now on his back and her arms were on his shoulders. All he said from there was simply, "Hold on tight." She didn't protest at all as she knew what he was going to try and do, but even with his new found strength she didn't believe he could do it. Nevertheless as soon as he felt her grip on his shoulders tighten he jumped onto the wall and grabbed a small ledge with expert skill and strength he pulled the two of them up and proceeded to move from ledge to ledge, moving closer and closer to the opening they had both come through when they reached the opening he spoke again.

"Astrid we can't both get through at the same time you need to go through first, understand." She only nodded as she realized how much more confidence he had in his abilities right now. Probably because she was in danger and that was what was causing the spike in his usual low self-esteem. Then with all the strength she had in her weak condition she climbed up Hiccup's back and through the opening. She then fell off the boulder outside the cave opening to the ground not far from the water's edge. Hiccup then climbed out as well and ran to her side. He could easily see her trying to stand using a nearby rock for balance in the now brightened area as the sun was beginning to rise. They had spent a lot longer in the cave than Astrid had previously thought. "Are you okay, no don't try to stand it will only make it worse," he said as he supported her left side by putting her arm around his neck; to help her stand without causing harm to her ankle. She was happy he was trying to take care of her, but she thought it was really annoying how he thought she couldn't even stand on her own. She then began to wonder if this was how he felt when she tried to help him after his battle with the Red Death. "Toothless!" he shouted hoping his friend was in audible distance. This was confirmed in just a few seconds as he came running and jumped into the cove in front of the two Vikings; his original prosthetic tail fin still strapped on. Hiccup then sat Astrid on top of Toothless who obviously understood something was wrong as he knelt down to make things easier. As Hiccup climbed on behind her she looked confused; he was supposed to be in front so she could hold onto him. It's not like she wanted to hold onto him she was just more accustomed to it. Hiccup seeing her obvious confusion and slight disappointment about this flight not being like their first one together he spoke to calm her down and explain, "I know you're usually in the back, but I feel more comfortable knowing I can make sure you don't fall. Besides we're going straight to the healers to get you proper treatment for that ankle and a real bandage for that cut. This brought a frown to her face, but she knew he was right and that he wasn't willing to negotiate at all; so she didn't bother to argue with him as they took off in the direction of the village.

**So what do you guys think? I crave your guys' thoughts so please review. Also in case you didn't notice I'm throwing some sarcasm into Astrid's thoughts because I felt I was getting a little OOC with her personality and I decided to fix it in this chapter and thanks Tasermon's Partner for pointing that out to me and I hope you think the sarcasm helps capture her personality better. So that's the end of chapter 3 I want to know what you guys think so keep reviewing, and it also makes me happy to see so many people enjoying my story so far. I promise to keep writing as much as possible so thanks for helping me do this. **


	5. Chapter 4: Some Reading and Kissing

** Chapter 4**

**Alright so I love all the feedback and I thank everyone for their advice on how to make it better mainly Cyclone and Tasermon. Sorry about how this chapter took so long was suffering from major writer's block syndrome, and I wasn't sure where to go with this chapter, but then I re-watched the movie for like the thirtieth time, and decided that this would be a good chapter for some major forgiveness scenes about Hiccup's troubling childhood. So be prepared for some slight (unseen) father-son bonding obviously between Hiccup/Stoick, also a little (seen) Astrid/Stoick bonding (in a father-daughter situation) and some emotional breakdowns.**

_(A couple hours later in the healer's hut)_

Astrid began to stir in her sleep, as she felt and excruciating sting of pain in her left side where the cut was. Her memories of last night came back to her. The last thing she could remember was that she had almost immediately fallen asleep upon her arrival with Hiccup at the old healers home, and believe me she was not happy to see them this early in the morning (she would brag about how he barged through the door like it was nothing with her in his arms, but she couldn't because then people would think that she actually enjoyed it).

She was now waking up to a room occupied by two other people, and to her disappointment neither was Hiccup. She slowly sat up and focused better on the two people, and quickly realized one was her mother and the other was the healer. Both greeted her as soon as they saw her eyes open.

"Astrid, are you okay dear?" Astrid's mother, Ingrid Hofferson, spoke with a very worried tone in her voice as she rushed to her side.

"Yes Mom, I'm fine. Where's Hiccup?"

"That man wouldn't shut up after you fell asleep so I sent him home," interrupted the old healer as she mixed some herbs in a pot over the fire. She then poured a ladle full into a small cup and handed it to Astrid; who looked at the green liquid in disgust. "Drink it. It tastes terrible so you'll want to take it quickly, but it will help with the pain."

Astrid glanced down again at the strange concoction in her hand, and then back to the healer. Finally, after much mental preparation Astrid through her head back with the cup to her lips attempting to completely bypass the taste, but this seemed to be a failure. Instead of flowing quickly and freely like water or mead the medicine was slow and it oozed out of the cup into Astrid's mouth directly onto her tongue.

Astrid nearly puked right then and there, but she quickly swallowed it down. She then opened her mouth trying as quickly as possible to rid her taste buds of the strange burning sensation brought by the liquid now in her stomach. It had an indescribable taste that Astrid felt queasy looking for words to describe it.

"Ugh, I need water now," she said quickly while reaching for a pitcher of water on a nearby table.

The healer grabbed it before Astrid could and said, "Absolutely not, if you drink water now then it will wash out the medicine before it can take effect."

Astrid looked back at the healer with a glare and spoke with great disdain in her voice, "Well give me something to get rid of this taste in my mouth."

The healer turned and walked over to a drawer and pulled out a piece of leather and tossed it to Astrid, "Here chew on this and stop complaining."

Astrid sat quietly chewing on the strip of leather with many thoughts on her mind. Some were about going and finding Ruffnut and Heather to be the shit out of them, and obviously the others were about Hiccup.

Although she had said she had forgiven him indirectly she was still angry about last night's confrontation. So she still wanted to talk to Hiccup about it, but due to her condition she was not allowed to leave the healers hut.

Quite a few hours had passed and her mother had left seeing her daughter was now fine and knowing she would be home later that day. So as soon as the healer became preoccupied with another patient that had injured himself while loading a ship that had just come into port Astrid snuck out a window close to her temporary bed. This however was a much more difficult task then she had previously thought due to her broken ankle.

The pain was gone yes and Astrid was happy that the medicine had done its job, but that didn't make it any easier to walk on. So she had to hobble to the nearest destination of where she assumed Hiccup would be and that was obviously the forge.

When she finally got outside she realized that it was early in the evening(4 or 5 o'clock). On her way there she ran into Gobber, and she asked him if Hiccup was at the forge. He replied with a simple nod and continued walking; he obviously was hung over from last night's celebration and was barely able to stand right now so she didn't question him further. Using anything she could Astrid hobbled to the now in sight smithy clutching on to walls, carts, dragons, and people as she crossed the busy village square.

As she neared her destination she saw Stoick squeeze out of the small door adjusting his helmet like no one was looking. He then spotted Astrid as she came up to the door, and she greeted him, "Good morning Chief."

"Astrid how many times do I have to tell you, call me Stoick." He said with a grin.

"Okay thanks Chi… I mean Stoick; I'm just going to see Hiccup." She said as she smiled sheepishly back at the very large man in front of her as she reached for the door.

"Oh no you don't Hiccup's working on something right now and he specifically told me to make sure you were out of the forge until he was done." He spoke with a firm tone as his grin disappeared.

"But, I just want to talk to him for a minute. Please." Astrid spoke almost begging, but she would never degrade herself like that.

"Nope he said no matter what to make sure you stay out of there until he's done and that's exactly what I'm going to do." He said with a strong voice and Astrid knew he meant it.

But as soon as he saw the disappointment on Astrid's face he spoke again in a much happier tone, "Why don't you come wait for Hiccup at our house; I'm sure he will be really excited to show what he's working on right now, and I know you'll enjoy it too."

This only made her want to go see Hiccup more, but before she knew it Stoick was moving her (unforceful of course) towards the hill to where he and Hiccup lived. Not seeing any way out of the situation she simply did what she was told, after all he was the chief so she had to. When they arrived at the base of the hill she continued to keep walking (more of a hobble, but she wasn't going to let the chief of the whole tribe see her in such a weak state) that is until Stoick stopped her yet again.

"Oh not so fast, Hiccup told me what happened; you may be able to manage a walk, but there is no way I'm letting you try to get up this hill with that foot of yours like that." He then gave out a very loud but deep whistle that resembled a roar from a dragon. No sooner did Stoick's dragon, Thornado, appear in front of them. "Thornado, I need you to carry Astrid up this hill." The dragon simply then moved closer to Astrid and lowered his back for Astrid to climb on, complying with his riders request without question.

Astrid then hesitantly climbed on to the thunder drums back; when Thornado was sure she wouldn't fall off he stood and started up the hill with Stoick at his side. The silent walk was soon interrupted by Stoick with a question that surprised Astrid, because it was Stoick asking it.

"So Astrid what do you think of the new Hiccup? He has changed a lot dontcha think." He said with a giddy look on his face which also surprised Astrid for Stoick's unnatural behavior. She then realized he was waiting for an answer and replied hesitantly, although she would never admit it she was always nervous around Stoick; of course she wasn't scared or anything she just was worried if he approved of her at all.

"Yeah he's changed a lot, but he is still the same in a lot of ways."

"I know," Stoick then stopped his walk; as did Thornado as he sensed his rider's mind was troubled, "I can't believe how I treated him before. No father should treat their one and only son that way."

Seeing the obvious sad expression on Stoick's face she replied now with a firm and caring voice, "Don't worry about it I'm sure Hiccup has forgiven you."

"Thank you Astrid. That means a lot coming from you." He spoke as he continued his walk up the hill.

"No problem, you know you should really talk to Hiccup about it and hear it from him yourself."

"You know I probably will."

They reached the door way still talking about Hiccup, and much to Astrid's relief the walk was not as awkward as she had feared it would be. Also to her surprise Toothless was next to the steps leading to the door like he had been waiting for her.

"Alright Astrid, you wait and stay here; Hiccup will be here in about an hour or so to see you. That means no sneaking off too early; just make yourself feel at home while I go have that quick talk with Hiccup. Toothless is here to make sure you don't wander off just in case."

"Fine, but Hiccup better hurry up." Astrid was obviously annoyed as she dismounted Thornado and walked in the house. She heard Toothless shift in front of the door as Stoick whistled a tune on his way back to the forge. Now she knew she was stuck and now had to wait a whole hour before Hiccup would come. She needed something to occupy her time so she decided to search through Hiccups room for something interesting.

Making her way up the stairs was rather easy with the new rail added in for when Hiccup was adjusting to his prosthetic. She then found herself in front of the door to Hiccups bedroom. She had never seen the inside before, because during his recovery from the legendary battle with the queen dragon Hiccup's bed was moved down stairs to make it easier for the healer to come and check on Hiccups condition.

She was very eager and curious to see what was beyond the door in front of her, but she was also hesitant as that she wanted to respect Hiccup's privacy. Eventually after thinking it over her curiosity got the better of her and she turned the knob and pushed the door open.

It squeaked loudly at the fact that it had not been opened for almost 2 years now. As she entered, Astrid saw very little furniture which was similar to her room. There was only a small bed, a nightstand, a dresser, and a desk; there was also a single window above the bed that looked out into the sky and allowed light into the room.

The bed was a mess and probably hadn't been slept in for 2 years. Also the dresser had been cleaned out likely in preparation for his long journey that he had just returned from. However, the desk was littered with drawings of dragons and invention schematics that Astrid didn't understand. On top of all the papers was a thick layer of dust; as she passed the desk though she saw a paper that stuck out from the rest, because it was in color.

Astrid almost couldn't believe what she saw as she picked it up and blew the dust away. It was a small painting of her. She recognized it as the day that she and Hiccup had gone to watch the sunset together a week before he was to leave for his training. They had gone to her favorite spot, which was not that far from Toothless Cove. She hadn't known what Hiccup was doing, but now the answer was clear.

The picture showed her sitting on a boulder looking half way between straight forward and out at the ocean. The amount of detail was phenomenal. Hiccup had obviously spent a lot of time on it. As that she often visited that spot with Stormfly she saw that he had almost every detail perfect except that there were now new flowers around the area that was depicted on the piece of parchment.

She set down the painting after admiring yet another one of Hiccup's many hidden skills, and continued around the room. She stopped at the nightstand where she saw that the bottom drawer was jammed shut. So with her curiosity peaking again she took out a dagger and wedged it into the opening and pried it loose. Inside was a bunch of notebooks. Astrid picked it up one and saw that it was a journal; Hiccup's journals. She sat down with hungry eyes and flipped to a random page.

_(Italics is Hiccup's Journal)_

_7__th__ day of Harpa (April),_

_It's been three years since mom died. I've been trying so hard, but still no one likes me. Dad hardly looks at me anymore and Snotlout's teasing is getting worse. Fishlegs is nice to me sometimes, but only when no one else is around. Yesterday though Snotlout beat me up, and everybody laughed as I ran away in fear, even Astrid was giggling. It felt terrible to see her enjoying my pain, but it was kind of nice to know that she is aware that I exist, even if I sometimes wish didn't. Usually she just ignores everything I say and do. It's so hard to know that the girl of your dreams will never see you as anything more than a screw-up. I just wish I could do something to impress her or to prove to her I'm not completely useless. Oh well I have to go now Gobber is having me learn how to be a blacksmith and I have to show up every day at noon; Dad says it will keep me from causing more damage to the village. I miss you so much Mom. I love you._

Astrid set the book down; her eyes full of tears. She threw her hands over her face as she began to sob. Astrid wasn't usually one to cry, but when it came to Hiccup she couldn't control herself. She now saw how she had treated him from his point of view she realized how awful she was to him, and she felt like she was about to throw up. She knew she hadn't been the nicest person to Hiccup, but she never knew how much her opinion mattered to him back then.

Suddenly and for no reason Astrid looked up and saw Hiccup standing there through her still crying eyes. He ran over to her and set down something he had been carrying. He sat down on the bed next to her, took her into his arms, and slowly rocked her back and forth trying to calm her down as she now cried hysterically.

"Hiccup, I'm so sorry for the way I treated you I'm so so sorry. Please forgive me I'm so sorry."

"Sshh Astrid it's okay, it's okay calm down. I forgave you for that a long time ago." He was now desperately trying to get her to stop crying he kissed her on her forehead and continued to rock her back and forth. After about another five minutes she finally stopped and Hiccup took her face into his hands and wiped a tear from her face with the back of his hand and looked into her perfect blue eyes.

She then gave out a short and quick laugh as she spoke, "How do always manage to know exactly what to say?" She then socked him the arm with a solid fist.

"Ow what was that for?" He said with a chuckle.

"That was for taking so long in that damn forge, and not being at the healers when I woke up." She then began to lean in for the kiss that always preceded his beatings. But he surprised her by leaning in sooner, because he was expecting it and met his mouth to hers.

Taking enjoyment out of this Astrid started to lean her entire body onto Hiccup and he began to lie down on his bed with her on top of him.

"Ow!" He said as his head it something hard.

"What, what happened?" She said with a hint of worry in her eyes as she finally broke the hold she had between his mouth and hers.

"Oh yeah I almost forgot why I had my dad bring you here. This is why I wasn't at the healers when you woke up." He said as he stood and picked up the heavy metal object that was wrapped completely in old cloth to hide what it was.

"I got this for you," He spoke with a huge grin on his face, "When I saw you didn't have one with you I remembered why and quickly found it and fixed it up a little." He then handed it on to Astrid's lap. She was surprised to find that despite its hardness it was very light.

She then eagerly started to take the pieces of cloth off and as she untied one last string all the remaining cloth fell to the floor and she gasped at what she saw.

"Hicc..Hiccup how did you find this?" She looked into his eyes with amazement. It was her axe; she hadn't been able to find it since the night she first flew with Hiccup and Toothless.

"I found it last night before I came down into the cave, it had been slightly buried and only the hilt was visible after my foo… my prosthetic hit it while I was searching for you," He still had a smile from ear to ear as he spoke, "So when I was sure you would be okay I left and went to dig it up. The blade wasn't able to be fixed, so I made a new one, but I could fix the handle."

Astrid looked back down at the weapon in her hands it was perfectly balanced, lightweight which suited her better as that she relied on speed in a fight, but she couldn't get over how beautiful it was. The blade and handle were shiny and perfect. At the point where the blades came together there were two gems in the place of the bolts that had been there before, an aquamarine gemstone and a golden topaz.

On the bottom of the hilt was the Hofferson family crest and just where the blade met the handle there was an inscription that read 'Never Back Down'.

Astrid loved the newly refined family blade. It had belonged to her father, and it was all she had left of him after he died. She looked to Hiccup with a smile again as she carefully set the blade down again.

She then began to kiss him and move him back down to the bed. She whispered one thing into his ear in between her passionate kissing, "Thank you." Her voice sent a chill through his body and gave him goose bumps as he kissed her back.

_(To be continued)_

**So that was my first cliffhanger if that is considered one, but I want to hear how this chapter was for you guys. Also I didn't show the scene where Hiccup got some bonding time with Stoick, because I want to stay in Astrid's point of view so it's less confusing for you guys. So let me know what you think I'm eager to hear what you all think. The next chapter will be a continuation of this scene and how Hiccup will prepare for the tournament.**


	6. Chapter 5: Kissing and Training

**Chapter 5**

**(PLEASE READ THIS IF YOU ARE SERIOUSLY INETERESTED IN THIS STORY!) **

**(IT HAS VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION!)**

**Ok first off before I start this chapter I need to ask your opinion. I want to hear from you guys about some plans I have for Hiccup and Astrid. I originally rated this story as M because I had planned to write a few lemons in it. Now I'm not sure; mainly because you guys seem to really like how the story is going so far, and I don't know if you guys would like some lemons in this story. As it stands right now I plan to write a lemon about 2-4 chapters from now, but before I do that I want to know how you guys would feel about it. Even if you think I should write the lemon please tell me in a review or PM me just so I can confirm that someone actually read this. Also, no this chapter will contain zero lemons no matter how much Astrid wishes it did. You will see why in a few minutes.**

Astrid and Hiccup, based on the look on his face, were in pure bliss as they were continuing their make-out session. Every so often when they would break for air they would look into each other's eyes and give a light smile and in Astrid's case a small chuckle as she admired how cute Hiccup's expression was. Despite how much he had changed this was just another example to Astrid that he was still, in some ways, the same goofy boy as he was 2 years ago.

She no longer felt any resentment towards Hiccup about the events that occurred only yesterday. She could not believe how much happened in the last 24 hours. She had thoroughly damaged her reputation with how she acted upon Hiccup's arrival, and had reinstated her feelings for Hiccup at the party. Then she and Hiccup had gotten in their first argument since the whole Heather incident and she ran away. Finally, she had injured herself while trying to stay away from Hiccup, who then came to her rescue.

Now they were in Hiccup's room after she had begged for his forgiveness about her behavior towards him during their childhood, and she had received the most beautiful gift that she absolutely loved.

She broke the kiss as she finally accepted the fact that had come to her mind, "I love you Hiccup."

Hiccup's eyes opened wide with shock and disbelief. "Say what?"

"You heard me," she gave him a light kiss, and pulled back so her face was less then inches from his, "I love you."

Hiccup then quickly came back from his shocked state, "And I love you too."

Hiccup then pulled Astrid back down to continue their kissing until Astrid did something that again shocked him, but he dared not stop the kiss as Astrid delicately slid her tongue into his mouth in search of a partner to wrestle with and after slight hesitation Hiccup met her tongue with his.

Astrid knew this would be a huge surprise to Hiccup, and it was for her too. Out of all the times they had kissed since their technically a couple status was set in place they had never done this, so it was a new experience for both of them as that neither had ever kissed anyone besides each other.

But Astrid was now more determined to push their experiences together further. Perhaps a little too far at the moment, because only a few seconds after introducing their tongues to each other Astrid had begun to slide her hand underneath his shirt and as she reached his chest Hiccup broke the kiss and stopped her hand with his.

"Astrid I know where this is going and I don't think this is the right time for that." He sighed after he finished like saying that had taken all the strength and courage he could muster.

Astrid looked at him obviously angry that he had stopped her advance, "And why not? We're alone in your room, we love each other, and I wasn't this to happen." She then tried to take off his shirt again and leaned in to kiss him more, but he pulled back again with the same obvious amount of determination to stop what was happening as she had to continue it.

"Yes that is all true and I want it to happen too, but you're ignoring two very important things right now. One you're still hurt and in this condition you should be lying down and resting. Two even if you weren't injured can you even imagine how our parents would feel if they found out we did 'that' right now, and what the rest of the village would say."

"Besides I want our first time to be more special."

Astrid thought over what she just heard, and gave a sigh of defeat as she realized he was right.

"Fine, but this better not happen again because next time I plan to be fully prepared for it, and nothing you say is going to stop me. Understand?"

Hiccup nodded and gave a small laugh as she got up and picked up her gift and placed it in it sheath that had remained empty for so many years. Hiccup suddenly stopped and his smile disappeared as she headed for the door. He looked fearful and nervous as Astrid turned to see why he wasn't following her.

"What's wrong?" she said with a quizzical look on her face.

"Oh nothing, you go on ahead and I'll catch up." He faked a smile and she knew he was hiding something.

"Don't you dare lie to me Haddock, now tell me the truth or I'll drag you out of here myself." She said with a serious tone.

Now it was Hiccup's turn to sigh in defeat; he looked down at the floor obviously thinking of something to say. He looked up to her with a worried look like he was telling his father he had accidently let the sheep loose again. "Well you see during what just happened I kind of got a little 'excited'."

Astrid looked at him again confused until she noticed what he meant. Even as he was sitting down she could see the now very obvious and very large bulge in his pants, and her face quickly turned a deep shade of red at the realization of what she had done to Hiccup.

She was shocked to see that Hiccup was much 'bigger' then she had previously thought. Obviously Hiccup had done a very good job at hiding this part of his body because she had never noticed it before.

She then gave a very uncharacteristically awkward giggle as she saw the even deeper shade of red that Hiccup had changed to as he saw her realize what he was talking about. She then walked over to him and took his hands in hers and pulled him up to a standing position. Obviously feeling just as awkward as Hiccup she started for the door still clutching his hand.

_(A few hours later somewhere in the woods)_

After they had left Hiccup's house Astrid was very eager to put her new axe to the test. For the last couple years she had been forced to use either her mother's spear or whatever axe she could find in the forge; after all if she didn't train with something her skill would slowly begin to fade away.

The other axes never worked for though they were always either to heavy or not sturdy enough to withstand the force she put into her blows. The spear was a clumsy and practically useless weapon in her hands, and this where she knew she took after her father when it came to battle skills. Her mother always said she was so much like him, but she never got to really know him though because he was taken in a dragon raid by a Monstrous Nightmare when she was 6.

She didn't like to think about things like this made her remember how much she missed him, but also how much she loved Hiccup. Oh right she's supposed to be training with Hiccup.

He shakes the thoughts from her mind; she is supposed to be showing Hiccup how good a fighter she really is. Astrid has never let anyone watch her train; not even her mother. When she was younger instead of having someone teach her she watched what the best warriors did to train, and then she would push herself to the brink of unconsciousness every day.

Things were different now. She realized she didn't have to do everything on her own; she had Stormfly, she had friends, but more importantly she had Hiccup. She looked at the still scrawny boy… sorry man again as he leaned against a nearby tree with a smile on his face.

She stood up from her crouched position, while Hiccup walked over to the tree that Astrid had solidly thrown her axe into. He pulled it out of the tree with ease, and the two walked toward each other and met with a silent and passionate kiss.

Astrid soon stopped it though to stop herself from getting too worked up. Hiccup then handed her axe to her, "I believe this is yours milady," he said sarcastically.

"Thank you, what a fine gentleman you are sir," she replied with her own equally sarcastic tone.

They both burst out laughing at this, and Hiccup nearly fell over while holding his side. When their fit of laughter was over Astrid sheathed her axe, and the two started back towards the village. In the silence a million questions raced through Astrid's mind; including things such as when she would see Hiccup tomorrow, and what her mother would say after being gone since the night of the party and disappearing from the healer's hut.

Most importantly though she wondered what Hiccup was thinking about and why it made him smile so much. During all her thinking she hadn't realized that they were now standing at her front door.

"Astrid."

"Yes Hiccup," she said this as once again she was trapped in his big green eyes.

"I have two very important questions for you; well the second one depends on the answer to the first." He said nervously rubbing the back of his neck as he turned to look at the ground.

"I swear to Odin himself Hiccup if you ask if I'm okay one more time I'm going to strangle you until you pass out." She said this with a light smile, but Hiccup knew she was being completely serious. Although he was stronger than her he would never use his strength against her in a situation like this.

On the other hand, Astrid had every right to be annoyed with him about his constant questioning of any pain that she might be feeling, but she didn't due to the potion given to her by the healer she hadn't felt any pain except for two occasions since they left the house.

On the way down the hill from Hiccup's house Astrid pushed him away from her in an attempt to walk on her own. This of course as a first attempt failed and she fell and had started rolling down the hill. Hiccup of course ran after her and dived in front of her to catch her. While Hiccup did catch her he couldn't stop himself from rolling until the two of them… well mostly Hiccup slammed into a boulder at the bottom of the hill.

This had caused a lot of pain obviously, but Astrid was a fast healer and also a quick learner as usual with everything she did, and from there she was able to walk on her own. Of course she secretly wished to be walking in Hiccup's arms again, but she would never tell anyone that including Hiccup. Also she couldn't walk through the still very busy village like that after all she had to save what little remained of her reputation and build it from the ground up.

The second occasion was when she challenged Hiccup to a race through the woods, but sadly this again ended with her on the ground in pain. She hated being this way; constantly in pain and showing weakness especially in front of Hiccup. Hiccup with the utmost care lifted her to her feet and allowed her to then walk independently again. She finally found the secret to overcoming her situation with her ankle. She found that if she put more weight on her toes instead of her heel then there would be less pain and awkwardness in each step.

She used this to her advantage when she was testing her skill with her new axe. She felt the pain was finally gone and no longer was concerned with her ankle anymore. The only problem with the deep cut in her side was when she accidently stretched to far during a diving roll that she fell over from the shock of pain.

Ever since then though she hadn't felt any problems with either of her injuries, and she took much enjoyment in this. She came back to reality again when she saw Hiccup move to one knee in front of her.

Oh gods his next question wasn't really what she thought it was; was it. An instant expression of joy and fear came to her eyes as he spoke.

"Astrid while I was away I came to a very important decision about something that I now hope you will want to be a part of and say yes when I ask you this." He was almost shaking now, and Astrid cupped her hand over her mouth in pure excitement now, as Hiccup pulled something out from behind him.

Wait a minute Astrid thought as she looked at what Hiccup was holding out her. This is not what she had been expecting. This object was about the length of her forearm and had a very sharp edge at one end and a handle at the other. Astrid quickly recognized it as a small hatchet; much similar to her axe in fact. It was just as shiny and had the same gem stones as well.

"Astrid Hofferson, will you spar with me?" Hiccup had looked up to her again with that same goofy smile. Now normally she would punch him for leading her to believe that he was asking her what she first thought he was doing.

But she knew that was exactly what he had planned to do, and she would not give him the satisfaction of knowing that he had tricked her. So she simply laughed and took the hatchet from his hands to look it over.

After spending a minute or two studying the small blade, she looked at Hiccup again who was still on one knee and waiting for an answer. She took his hand and lifted him to his feet and gave him a quick embrace. "Yes Hiccup of course I'll spar with you." She laughed again and gave him a quick peck on the cheek.

"Great I'll meet you at the dragon academy tomorrow morning." He said with much enthusiasm and huge grin; both from her answer and from the look she had on her face only a few moments ago. He had expected her to pummel him for he had obviously made the scene appear to be a proposal, but to his surprise she didn't. He then gave her a kiss on the lips for good night and started for home; waving good-bye as Astrid shut the door behind him with a smirk on her face.

**So that's the end of chapter 5. I had you guys going there for a second didn't I. Oh, and sorry for the sort of a cliffhanger again. Not sure exactly what defines something as a cliffhanger, but I'm assuming that's close to one. Also I know it's a little weird that Astrid is recovering quickly, but I didn't realize at first how much her injuries could limit what would happen in the story. Oh well got to learn from experience I guess. So let me know what you guys think about this chapter, and DON'T FORGET ABOUT WHAT WAS SAID AT THE TOP PLEASE! I NEED YOUR OPINION ON THAT PRONTO!**

**Thanks!**


	7. Chapter 6: Go all out

** Chapter 6**

**First off thanks for the reviews and I assure you hear what you're saying loud and clear. Alright so I feel like I've gotten enough feedback to decide that I will be writing a lemon in a couple chapters, but I haven't decided exactly when. Also I promise that this story will not be just about lemons; I fully intend to continue the plot and even a sequel eventually based on how much you guys like this story when it's over. **

**So let me know what you think when it's done and please keep reading, I love the fact that you guys enjoy my writing. So here's chapter 6.**

"Hold it right there young lady!" shouted a very angry Ingrid Hofferson.

'Damn' Astrid cursed to herself. She was able to sneak in unseen last night, but now she was caught and she knew this would not go well.

"Where do you think you're going off too?"

"Um… I'm off to the Dragon Academy to do some sparring."

"Oh no you don't; you need to rest and let those injuries heal."

"But Mom I promised Hiccup that he and I would spar today. Besides I feel fine."

This was actually very true. Most of the swelling in her ankle was gone, and her cut just received a new bandage.

"Uuuuhhhh… why do I even bother arguing?" She sighed as she rubbed her forehead. "Fine just be careful okay."

"Yes Mother." She said as her excitement shot through the roof.

As she ran for the door she grabbed her axe and matching hatchet. "Be back by sundown." Her mother called after her. Astrid had of course heard her before she could shut the door, but she pretended she didn't after all. Based on yesterday's events at Hiccup's house today could end up lasting quite a while.

Astrid stepped out into the cool morning. Astrid always more of a morning person, but unbeknownst to her Hiccup was not. She found this out when she had to wait until almost noon when Hiccup finally arrived.

And she made her annoyed mood very well known, and Hiccup new he was in trouble based on the look on Astrid's face.

"Uh, good morning Astrid." He spoke nervously and had a confused look on his face.

"Good morning? Good morning, do you have any idea what time it is?"

"Uh I don't know a little before midday I think, why?"

"Because, I've been here waiting since sunrise." Astrid said with annoyed look, but it quickly turned to a sly smirk when she saw Hiccup's face paralyzed with fear. Astrid loved the fact that even after recent events and his long time away from home she was still highly respected and feared by Hiccup.

"I'm so sorry; I had no idea you were going to arrive so early." He said this with a serious face and stepped a little closer to Astrid. Next Hiccup found himself in the air and then right back on the ground.

"That's for making me wait for so long," then she kicked his side (not at full force of course, after all he didn't mean to do it), "and that is to make sure you never do it again."

Hiccup got the message loud and clear, but as he got up and dusted himself off Astrid pulled him in for a quick kiss, "That's because I never thanked you for the hatchet."

After she finished her sentence she jumped to the side into a battle stance with her axe drawn.

"Now no more wasting time I've been waiting all morning for this match, so prepare yourself." She said with a small grin.

Hiccup returned one of his own to her as he silently pulled a single sword from its sheath. It looked very similar to the two he had been wearing on his first day back only it was bigger. Astrid also noticed how strange and different the sword was from the usual Viking short sword or berserker's long sword.

Most swords she had seen were straight, this one however was curved. It also had a guard for the hands and two small hooks on the end of the hilt. Just like her axe the sword had two gems one next to the other at the point where the blade met the hilt on both sides, only the stones were different. His included a smooth onyx stone and a bright shiny emerald. It was a very beautiful sword and she knew that Hiccup had personally designed and forged the sword.

Astrid prepared as she always did right before a fight. She would act like she was warming up by spinning her axe and taking a few swings, but she would really begin analyzing her opponent for strengths and weaknesses. As they circled each other around the ring she spun her axe one last time before she spoke.

"Hiccup, not that it will help you any but, I want you to go all out. If you can't beat me then there's no way you'll win the tournament." Hiccup chuckled to himself; obviously she wasn't aware that his battle skills had drastically improved.

"Aright I'll try, but no one is going to draw blood right." He said half sarcastically and half nervously.

Astrid gave a slight smirk, "Fine if you want to take all the fun out of it."

Astrid now had Hiccup right where she wanted him he was near the wall and blocked on one side by one of the old wooden barriers used for training. She then began her charge forward. With a loud battle cry she drove her axe down onto the ground where Hiccup had been standing.

Astrid was confused he had been there less than a second ago. It was like he had vanished but she couldn't believe what she saw when she found her opponent. He was jumping from the side of the wall and over her but; it was too late for her to pull her axe out of the ground he now stood at full height behind her. His sword was at her neck as if he were about to slit it open. Obviously he would never do such a thing as he pulled back his sword and chuckled.

"Ha-ha even I expected it to last longer than that." He walked over to the other side of the arena and spun his sword with expert skill as Astrid stood there in complete shock at what had just happened. No one had ever defeated her that quickly, and few could say that actually beat her at all.

"Come on we'll go at it again, and try not to be so obvious next time." Astrid would have been furious if he wasn't right but he did have a good point. As they both took their stances it was Hiccup who made the first move this time.

He side stepped to Astrid's right side and swung at her gut. Astrid the brought her axe up and deflected his sword to the side. She gave her own swing back at him but, her blade was caught by his in a clash.

"Hey, Astrid," he spoke as they both pushed against each other for the edge over the other, "you should know something."

"Oh and what is that." She said with a grunt.

"I'm not left-handed." He said with a grin as he took control of his weapon with his dominant hand and easily forced Astrid to slide backwards.

There weapons clashed several times and all the while Hiccup never allowed Astrid to take a swing that came to close to him, and he of course never swung at her in any way that she couldn't block it.

Astrid took a step back and eyed Hiccup with shock and amazement. Before he had left he could barely lift a weapon, and now he fought like he was a master swordsman. They both stood there exhausted; little did they know that they had been sparring for almost 2 hours.

Of course several people had come to watch them over that course of time, but now again they were alone. Astrid was ready for this to be over so she devised a plan that was quickly put into action.

She took out her new hatchet that had yet to have been used and twirled it in her hand. Then with a powerful swing she threw it directly at Hiccup. Of course he easily dodged it which was what Astrid was hoping for. She then rushed him and tackled him. He was now on his back with Astrid looming over him. She was about to give(an imitation of the final blow)the last strike that would have surely killed him if they were fighting for real, but as the axe came down Astrid heard a click and the sound of metal hitting metal. She focused her vision on what was in front of her. Hiccup now held two swords that made an X that her axe now sat between.

"Hey that's cheating." She said with a very angry tone.

"No it's not; it's still the same sword it's just in two parts now." She would have said more but, Hiccup had tossed her off him and now had a rather large dagger at her throat. She had been beaten again; luckily no one was around to witness it.

With a chuckle Hiccup stood up and helped Astrid to her feet. As soon as she stood up though she solidly knocked Hiccup to the ground.

"That's for beating me twice." She said with a displeased tone. She then jumped on top of him as he lay there in pain as the wind knocked out of him. When he regained his breath Astrid gave him a powerful kiss.

When she pulled away she gasped for air and spoke again, "That's for impressing me."

Hiccup laughed again and pulled her back for more kissing. They then moved over up against the wall to be more comfortable. They sat there as Hiccup explained the going from one sword to two.

Once she thought about it Astrid realized it was a rather simple design. The gems on Hiccup's blade weren't just for decoration they also worked as a switch. When they sat side by side they locked the dual blades together.

But with a simple flick of his thumb Hiccup could turn the gems so one was on top of the other. This then released the blades from one another to use as two separate weapons. The swords were very light but were as tough as dragon scales as well. This was obviously a master creation that had probably never been done before which only made it more 'hiccup'.

"How do you never cease to amaze me," Astrid said as she looked from the sword up to his bright green eyes.

"What do you mean?" He said looking very confused, "I can hardly do anything right." He then moved to look at the ground sulking in his self-conscious thoughts.

"Don't say things like that!" Astrid yelled as she jabbed him in the gut. She then grabbed him and held him tight while resting her head on his shoulder.

They stayed that way in silence for a couple minutes as Astrid thought of what to say next.

"Hiccup I never want to hear you talk like that again. You're not useless and you're not a screw up. You're amazing. There's nothing you can't do. You've done so many great things and you have so much talent and skill in everything you do."

Hiccup stared into her eyes as they began to water. "Do you really mean that?"

Astrid's eyes were watering now to as she simply bit her lip and nodded. Hiccup pulled her into him completely enveloping her as he rested his chin in her soft blonde hair. "I love you Astrid."

"And I love you Hiccup." She whispered back to him as she pushed her self-further into his embrace. Hiccup kissed the top of her head and gently rocked the two of them back and forth.

They stayed like that for Thor knows how long until the silence was broken by the sound of the gate to the academy being opened. Stoic then walked in looking straight at the Viking teens huddled against each other against the wall. He chuckled to himself at the sight of this.

"So this is what you call 'sparring' eh." He laughed a little louder this time.

"No we're just resting now." Hiccup said with a once again confident tone.

"Ha-ha fair enough, well I hate to ruin your 'resting' but, you both look like you fought against all of Hel on your own. Come on now Hiccup you need to go wash up and get some sleep. The tournament is tomorrow you know."

Hiccup looked dumb struck he had completely forgotten about the tournament. He jumped to his feet gave Astrid a quick kiss and dashed home.

Stoic looked at his now grown son rushing up the hill with a smile. He then turned to look at Astrid who now stood dusting herself off with a grin and red cheeks.

"Promise me you'll take good care of him for me." He said with an old man's sigh as he rubbed his forehead.

She almost jumped as she realized he was talking to her but she quickly regained her composure and spoke with a soft but solid tone. "I promise," She said as she brushed her bangs to the side. "I promise." She repeated to herself looking after the boy she loved.

**So let me know how you liked this chapter. It's not how I planned to make it at first. It was supposed to be longer but instead I split it into two chapters. So obviously that next chapter will be the 2****nd**** part. Also that was my first action scene I hope it was okay. Also sorry it took so long to post this chapter it's been a very busy week. Please review and let me know what you think ASAP. Thanks for being awesome.**


	8. Chapter 7: The Tournament

**Chapter 7**

**Hey thanks for being patient I know it's taking longer for each chapter but, that's because school stuff is getting in the way. When it gets closer to the end of school I'll be updating like crazy I promise. Okay so this is the second part of the chapter that I split up, and yes this is the tournament scene.**

**Hiccup's going to be in for a real challenge. And the guys won't be the only ones fighting in this chapter. (Hint*Hint*Wink*Wink). **

**One more thing I made something about Hiccup's armor different then something that would happen in the 2****nd**** movie or the series but I thought it would work better. So I don't know if you guys will like the change but I'm sticking with it. Sorry. Also a mistake was pointed out to me, in the last chapter Hiccup said he wasn't left handed, well it was supposed to be he wasn't right handed. My bad.**

**So get comfortable because this chapter is full of classic Viking duels and brawls. Enjoy!**

(_The next day in the arena.)_

Astrid stood there terrified; not for herself but, for Hiccup. In the days prior she had thought little about the tournament but, now that it was here she was caught completely off guard when she thought of how Hiccup could get seriously hurt.

The hunt had gone over well Hiccup came in second with having killed 2 rabbits, and a small deer. But it was Snotlout who won the event with a moose and three beavers. Fishlegs only managed to get third by catching two fish, and Tuffnut only found an old rotting squirrel. The dragon battle was over quickly with Snotlout in last, Tuffnut in third, Fishlegs in fourth, and of course Hiccup winning with ease.

She stood nervously in front of Hiccup; he was busy clasping his sheath on to his hip and adjusting what little armor he had on. Stoick and Astrid both had asked him to wear something more protective, but Hiccup knew it would only slow him down. His opponents were all much larger and stronger so if he was going to have any chance of winning he would need his speed, agility, and most importantly a good strategy.

Stoick and Astrid both also knew this but, they couldn't help how much they were worried. After all he only wore a leather set of spaulders and chest guard. The only iron he wore besides his prosthetic was a pair of vambraces. However there was something special about these vambraces. Before Hiccup left he had come up with an idea but, it had taken a very long discussion with his father before he could go through with it.

Hiccup had loved the helmet his father had given him which also had come from his mother's armor but, it never quite fit him right. So he asked his father if he could turn it into a different piece of armor. At first Stoick was furious but, after some explaining Hiccup got his father to accept the idea. So after about 3 days of work, 2 being used to decide what kind of armor to make the helmet into, Hiccup had a new pair of iron vambraces made from the helmet.

After a few seconds of staring at the figure in front of her she came back to her senses. She carefully tightened the straps to his chest guard and when she finished she rested her hands on the piece of leather that covered his now broader chest, but still smaller than most Vikings. Hiccup looked down in to her eyes as she looked into his. He saw something that he had only seen once before, fear. The last time he saw it was when he and Toothless had 'kidnapped' her when she found Toothless. And the last time they stood together like this in front of the gate to the arena Hiccup was nearly killed trying to show the village that dragons weren't a threat.

Hiccup smiled as he pulled her into his embrace, "How did I ever get so lucky to have a girl like you?"

This made Astrid giggle, "The same way you've nearly been killed at least thirty times and always survive." Astrid giggled some more after her statement.

Hiccup laughed at this as well, "And this time will be no different, I promise."

With that he gave her a quick kiss and turned towards the entrance to the arena. Astrid now slightly less worried but, still extremely terrified smiled after him and walked to her seat next to her mother. Ingrid looked over to her daughter with eyes of sympathy and her own feeling of fear. She knew exactly how Astrid felt, in fact; Ingrid had been in the exact same situation 20 years before. She felt the same fear that Astrid was experiencing now.

When Ansgar, Astrid's father, competed in this tournament he had suffered some serious wounds and he left the arena unconscious. She spent a week treating his wounds during his recovery. At first she was furious with Stoic, who happened to be the one that defeated Ansgar, but as new chief he had come to apologize personally and declare that because of the state of his friend he was establishing new rules for the tournament. So Ingrid knew that Astrid needed some reassurance in the situation. "Try to calm down Astrid I know how you feel, but Hiccup needs you to be brave. He has a good head on his shoulders all he needs is your support and he will do fine."

Astrid said nothing and she found little comfort in her mother's words. She knew that she only said that to make her feel better but, she was right. She looked down at Hiccup who stood lined up with the other three candidates next to Fishlegs. His face was now full of uncertainty as the beginning of the tournament was at hand. He looked to Astrid and saw she was looking at him. He gave her a half smile as Gobber stepped to the center of the stadium.

Although he wasn't as loud as Stoic he was fully capable of speaking over the crowd. "Welcome!"

"You all know why we're here," he then gave a quick pause, "to choose our next chief!"

The crowd roared with approval as Astrid watched Hiccup's old nervousness come back to him. The crowd continued to applaud throughout Gobber's introduction of each of the young men in the arena with him.

"Our candidates are….Tuffnut Thorston," as he said this Tuff stepped forward and posed for the crowd, "Snotlout Jorgenson," Lout then stepped up and flexed his muscles several times, "Fishlegs Ingerman," He stepped forward and gave a slight nod with his arms crossed, " and of course Hiccup Haddock." He didn't know what to do so he simply waved once and looked back to Astrid's smiling face.

Astrid couldn't help but be proud at the moment she had watched this boy grow up from an annoying and goofy kid to a, well still goofy, but also smart and responsible man.

"Alright folks, here are the rules. Each competitor is allowed only 2 weapons, a shield counts as a weapon as well. Once a weapon is dropped it may not be used. Each match will end when one fighter is unable to continue or surrenders. There will be 3 one-on-one matches. The first match will be…..Tuffnut vs. Snotlout."

Hiccup was both relieved that he wasn't fighting Snotlout first, but terrified because he was fighting Fishlegs. Just like Hiccup, Fishlegs had gone through some major changes during their training. He had become more reserved and more serious. He didn't scare as easily anymore and even if it sounds impossible, his knowledge of battle had drastically increased. That plus his girth and berserk rampages he truly was a force of nature. Hiccup would need his speed and quick thinking to win this competition.

Since Lout and Tuff were up first, Hiccup and Legs left the stadium and stood behind the Iron Gate and watched the adversaries begin to circle each other, waiting for Gobber to begin the match. "…..Begin!"

Gobber's shout was instantly overpowered by the two war cries of the warriors charging at each other followed by a crash of shield against shield. They struggled back and forth grunts and roars escaping their mouths, each trying to push the other back. Eventually it was Snotlout who made the first attack as he brought his hammer to the side of Tuffnut's shield to crack it and knock it aside. At the same time Tuffnut drove his spear forward grazing Snotlout's left side.

With rage and fire in his eyes Snotlout swung his hammer once more this time connecting solidly with the weakest part of the shield, which happened to be where he had cracked it before, causing it to break. Now Tuff really was in trouble he stood there without a shield and backed up against the wall. But what he did next surprised everyone, especially Snotlout. Using his spear he vaulted himself over Snotlout with a perfect landing that allowed him to sweep Snotlout's feet out from under him.

Tuff now stood over Lout and was ready to strike when he was hit in the face as Lout threw his hammer at him. Now Lout was unarmed except his shield while Tuff ran around screaming, "Ah! Ow! I'm hurt. I'm very much hurt."

Seeing the opportunity Snotlout charged the dazed Viking and bashed his head with his shield several times until Tuff finally stopped it with his spear. Unfortunately his spear got caught in the wood and it fell to the floor. Now all weapons were out of the fight. So the combatants charged again fist ready to strike. Tuffnut put all his strength into his punch aimed directly at Snotlout's exposed jaw. What he didn't count on was Snotlout's target which instead of being his own jaw; it was actually aimed for his fist.

Snotlout's fist was much larger than Tuffnut's so it was pretty obvious what happened next. Their fists collided and there was a lot of cracking coming from the knuckles of Tuff's right hand. It was quite obvious from just the sound that Tuff's hand was broken. Before Tuff could even cry out in pain Lout had tackled him. He gave him one solid punch to the face and he was knocked unconscious.

SnotLout stood triumphantly in the center of the ring as Gobber declared him winner of the match. Snotlout, Snotlout, Oy, Oy, Oy!" A huge roar went through the crowd as he continued the chant.

After about five more minutes of chanting and whooping Snotlout finally left the ring so the next round could begin. Gobber shouted over the still roaring crowd. "Next up, Hiccup vs. Fishlegs!" The opponents stood facing each other now Hiccup with his single sword and no shield, and Fishlegs with his face and his family shield. The two were complete opposites compared to the two warriors that last fought in the arena, so there wasn't any showing off or fancy moves. Just a silent stare.

Astrid could feel her heart almost beating out of her chest. Almost as if he could feel her distress Hiccup looked to her and gave her a comforting smile. However this was just what Fishlegs was waiting for. He charged like a wild berserker only screaming as he brought his mace down towards Hiccups body. For a big man Fishlegs was a very quick and silent runner.

Just as the mace was about to make contact Hiccup ducked below it, but Fishlegs saw this coming so he swung his shield as he stood back up. Hiccup barely had enough time to bring his sword up to try and deflect the blow, but he couldn't block it completely as the shield hit his right shoulder. Hiccup quickly fell to the ground, as Fishlegs took the opportunity to continue his onslaught of attacks. Hiccup had to roll in either direction to avoid being crushed. Now though Hiccup was trapped by the shield, but as Fishlegs brought his mace down Hiccup rolled in to a backflip and kicked Fishlegs in the jaw.

Hiccup now stood about four feet away as he watched Fishlegs wipe a trickle of blood from a cut on his cheek. Filled with a blind fury now Legs charged wildly swinging his mace and let loose a horrifying battle cry. Hiccup turned and ran; just when Fishlegs was about to run Hiccup over, Hiccup sprang forward spun around and prepared for his next move. Fishlegs was about two feet away from him when he side stepped and took hold of the shield and spun it in the opposite direction. Hiccup knew he was successful upon hearing a satisfying snap followed by the clang of the shield hitting the ground. He had snapped Fishlegs' wrist as well as taking away the shield.

Fueled by rage and adrenalin charged again, but with a simple yet graceful movement Hiccup disarmed him in mid dash as well as dodging the attack and cutting Fishlegs' hand. And with a quick spin and kick Fishlegs was on the ground with a sword in his face.

Fishlegs started to laugh as he looked up at Hiccup who stood there with a smirk. Hiccup sheathed his sword and put his arm out to help his friend to his feet. "Hahaha, great job Hiccup I was hoping to last a little longer, but I came close once or twice." They exchanged grins as Fishlegs turned to Gobber. "I know when I'm beaten, I concede victory to Hiccup." He then walked over to the gate with a smile and a slight limp.

All except Gobber, Hiccup, and Fishlegs had their jaws touching the ground in shock. Hiccup had defeated Fishlegs in less than 15 minutes which was astonishing when you compared the two together. Astrid was probably the most shocked; in all her years of experience in combat she had never seen anyone move the way Hiccup did. He wasn't nearly that good of a fighter last night, and that made her dangerously angry; Hiccup was holding back in their sparring match the day before.

There was a brief moment of silence before Gobber gave his next announcement. "There will be a one hour intermission so the competitors may rest for the next battle."

Astrid nearly fell over twice as she frantically dashed to where Hiccup was standing. He was standing with Gobber and Stoick laughing as they talked about the match. Astrid slowed to a walk as she fixed her hair quickly. When she stood in between Stoick and Hiccup it was Gobber who saw her first. "Well hello lass, I suppose you're here to see Hiccup." She nodded silently and looked down to hide her blushing face. "Well, I guess Stoick and I will leave you two alone then."

As the two ancient Viking warriors walked away the two teens turned towards each other. Hiccup didn't know what to expect, Astrid showed no expressions at all which is definitely not a good thing. His suspicions were confirmed when he got a solid punch to the gut. "That was for going easy on me yesterday." She then tackled him as he was bent over in pain. He now on his back with a very beautiful Valkyrie on him. He didn't know whether he was lucky or about to die. It was then that she pushed her lips to his in a passionate kiss. "That is for making it out alive."

After she kissed him a second time she removed her weight from atop his chest, and as she helped Hiccup to his feet two certain girls walked forward, two girls that were tied for number one on her to kill list. (She didn't actually have a list, but she thought if she did they would definitely be in the top five, along with a few others.) Ruffnut and Heather stopped laughing as soon as they saw the teen couple dusting themselves off. A sly grin came to Ruffnut's face.

That was when she decided to do something most would never even dream to do, not even on their death bed. "Hey Hiccup, if that ugly twig there can't satisfy you, then you know where to find me. Ha-ha!" Astrid was furious, her entire face turned red with rage and fury. Not even a Monstrous Nightmare would stop Astrid as she immediately charged after the blonde. As soon as she had stopped snickering she realized Astrid was running at her. She turned to run away with Heather, but it was too late Astrid had already tackled both of the girls and had her hatchet alternating between their necks as she spoke.

"If either of you so much as look at Hiccup in a way I don't like, the I swear to Odin and all the gods themselves that I will end you without mercy! Understand!" The two girls nodded their heads with eyes full of dread as the witnessed the mighty hurricane of fury that they had unleashed. "Now get out of my sight!" The girls scrambled to their feet, shoving each other in attempts to get away faster. A now very angry and flustered Astrid walked back to Hiccup who stood petrified with fear. Astrid took no notice of his expression as she grabbed his wrist and pulled him to a more secluded place without resistance. Hiccup dare not try to escape, for he knew not what the punishment would be, but he knew it would be severe.

Finally they arrived at the forge. Astrid pushed open the door and slammed it behind them. After that she locked all the doors and shut all the windows. Now that she was sure that they were alone she slowly went to a section of open wall and leaned against it as she sat down. Without speaking a word Hiccup moved closer and closer to her until he was sure no harm would come to him. He sat down next to her and gently put his arm around her. He didn't know what to say so she simply said nothing. After a minute or so she let out a sigh as she leaned into his shoulder and gently took hold of his other hand and ran her fingers over it.

Hiccup couldn't take it any longer so with some slight hesitation he spoke. "As…Astrid please say something I've never seen you this way before, and I don't like it. She kept running her fingers over his hand. His palm was rough and firm from working in the forge for so long. The back of his hand was riddled with burns and scars. If she could she would spend as long as it would take to observe every last detail of the hand, but sadly things weren't that easy.

"Hiccup why aren't we a couple?"

Hiccup was startled by the question and was confused. "Aren't we technically a couple?"

"Hiccup you know what I mean; I mean come on never once has either of us called the other boyfriend or girlfriend."

"Well technically we've never gone on an actual date. But if it means that much to you then fine." He then stood up and lifted Astrid to her feet. "Astrid Hofferson, will you go out on date with me tomorrow?"

Astrid nearly snorted with amusement at the sight of Hiccup's awkward stance he was in right now. She then leaned into him with a warm embrace still giggling to herself. "Yes of course I will Hiccup." After a few moments of just standing their holding each other her voice became serious again. "Hiccup promise me you'll never leave me."

"Nothing on Earth could ever keep me from you I promise." She squeezed him tighter after he finished. It was obvious to Hiccup that she was now calm, but he enjoyed the silence their alone with Astrid. Eventually they sat back down for the remainder of the intermission until Hiccup was called back to the stadium. On their walk back they said nothing and each was thinking about something different. Hiccup wondered what they would do for their date tomorrow and Astrid wondered if Hiccup would even survive until tomorrow.

Both were terrifying for them, but they would find a way to make it turn out for the best. After all what's the worst thing that could happen.

"Settle down!" Gobber's voiced boomed over the large crowd. As soon as it was quiet he continued, "This is the final match, the victor will become heir to the chiefdom." The crowd roared with approval. "So let the match begin!"

Hiccup and Snotlout were now circling the ring facing each other. "You're going down pipsqueak, you may have gotten stronger, but you're still not as strong as me." Snotlout was trying to taunt Hiccup into a rage, but it obviously wasn't working. So Snotlout tried a different approach. "You know Hiccup as soon as I beat you, I'll become the next chief, and that makes me able to choose whoever I want as my bride." A cold shiver went down both Hiccup's and Astrid's spine. He was right, at first Hiccup didn't mind if he didn't become chief, but he hadn't thought about what it would be like if Snotlout became chief. He would be able to take Astrid away from him, and force him to work in the forge forever, or worse, banishment.

"Besides I know Astrid would love to marry me rather than a runt like you, the only reason she ever liked you was because of your dragon." Two things happened at the instant one, Astrid finally understood why Hiccup said the things he did after the incident at the party, and more importantly Snotlout got what he wanted. Hiccup instantly was enraged as he charged his cousin with amazing speed.

Snotlout ducked under the swinging sword and used his shield to throw Hiccup into the air. As he came down Snotlout took a solid swing with his hammer that landed directly on Hiccup's rib cage. Hiccup then rolled several feet and couldn't find the strength to get up.

"Hiicccuuuupppp!" Astrid screamed in terror as Snotlout stood over Hiccup. Stoick and Gobber both stood their terrified for neither could interfere with the match. Snotlout gave a terrifying grin as he spoke.

"It's about time that everyone saw how much better I am then you." He kicked Hiccup again and again rolling him over and over until he was trapped between Snotlout and one of the wooden walls that were once used for training. Snotlout now was satisfied with embarrassing Hiccup in front of the tribe and was ready to end the tournament. He threw his shield to the ground and with both hands he brought his hammer down.

In his selfish pride and arrogance he didn't realize at first that Hiccup was now standing and held his two swords which he was using to block the hammer from its target. "No! Not this time Snot!" Hiccup was full of adrenalin as he pushed Snotlout back. Snotlout's hammer flew into the air as he fell to the ground. When he stood up he saw Hiccup jump behind the wooden battlement and kick it with all his strength at him. It slid across the arena hitting Hiccup's opponent to the ground again.

Hiccup charged at the fallen foe and before he could stand up Hiccup had his swords to Snotlout's throat. "If you ever threaten Astrid again I'll make you regret it!" Snotlout was terrified, he had never seen Hiccup with this much anger. He swiftly nodded his head in fear as he skittishly rose to his feet. Hiccup withdrew his swords, and began to walk away towards the gate, confident that his victory was clear. He was wrong however.

"AAHHHHHHHHH!" Hiccup heard Snotlout's war cry as he charged him from behind. With expert skill he spun on his good foot and kicked him in the gut with his metal one. As he hunched over in pain Hiccup pulled Snotlout up and punched him square in the jaw. Everyone was in shock of how much force was in the punch. Snotlout rolled back several feet, and was missing two teeth from his now broken jaw. He probably would be crying out in pain if he wasn't unconscious. Hiccup would have to admit even he was surprised at this blow, but nevertheless he was satisfied with the fact that he had solidly knocked out his cousin.

The crowd then roared with approval and excitement. Everyone ran into the arena to congratulate Hiccup, except Spitelout and the village healer who carried Snotlout to the healer's hut where the other competitors were resting.

Somehow Astrid managed to reach Hiccup and trap him in a bear hug. She didn't realize it, but he was wincing in pain as that a few of his ribs were broken, but he didn't mind. He was just glad that the tournament was over. Everyone was proud of him. The boy who used to be the 'hiccup' of the tribe, the mockery of the whole town, Hiccup the useless, but that was all in the past now. Now he only looked to the future. He was able to give Astrid one kiss before Gobber and Stoick lifted him onto their shoulders and carried him to the Great Hall to celebrate.

**So that's the end of the chapter I hope you all enjoyed it. Also I know Ruffnut, Heather, and Snotlout are all a little OC, but like I said before this story doesn't include all the episodes from the series. All the bonding comes later. I hope the action was good and that it wasn't too long.**

**AGAIN I'M SO SORRY FOR TAKING FOREVER TO POST THIS. I'VE BEEN REALLY BUSY LATELY AND I PROMISE TO POST MORE OFTEN THAT SCHOOL IS ALMOST OUT. **

**So I know it's been awhile, but I need reviews, and yes the next chapter will be Hiccup's and Astrid's date. So type up some reviews and give me ideas. Thanks!**


	9. Chapter 8: The Date

**Chapter 8**

**Hey guys thanks again for giving my story a chance. So this is obviously the date chapter. Some ideas are generic, but it has my own twist in it. Hiccup has a plan, but since when do his plans ever work. Neither has any idea of what to expect, after all this is their first date ever. Also it was a late decision, but this chapter WILL HAVE SOME LEMON in it! So I hope you enjoy the chapter and please don't forget to review. So here's chapter 8!**

_(The morning after the tournament)_

It was a little past sunrise now as Astrid sat up in bed. She gave a long yawn as she stretched her arms out and rubbed her eyes. She had gotten up a little later than usual, but that was probably because the party last night in honor of Hiccup's victory in the tournament. Sadly though Hiccup had to leave early due to the fact that the healer had demanded he go to her hut so she could see how badly he was hurt.

He felt fine, but because Stoick had insisted, and Astrid looked like she would murder him if he didn't he decided to go anyway.

So that left Astrid alone. She had stayed up much longer than her usual habit which was likely why she was so tired and waking up late. She turned and hung her legs over the side of the bed as she was about to get up when something clicked in her mind. She is supposed to go on a date with Hiccup today!

She immediately jumped out of bed and ran to the foot of her bed where her clothing trunk was. She dug down deep until she found what she was looking for. It was a dark green dress that she had secretly bought from trader Johann a few months ago. It would be perfect; she had been waiting for an occasion like this to show it to Hiccup. She quickly slipped off her night tunic and pulled the dress on sliding her head and arms through the correct holes.

In addition, in a slightly lighter shade of green was an intricate design that Astrid assumed were flowers. The dress ended a little above her knees. The fabric was soft and it was snug; trader Johann said it came from the far edge of the world, and that it came from some kind of caterpillar or something. Apparently it was called silk, but she didn't care so long as Hiccup liked it.

Damn it Hiccup! Why do you make me act like this she thought to herself. She hated acting this way, but she also loved to make Hiccup happy. Out of frustration she discarded the thought from her mind as she walked to the mirror to begin the challenge of braiding her hair. As that she did this everyday it didn't take her long to quickly finish it.

She then walked over to her trunk again and pulled out a pair of light green leggings. Even though it was still summer the chilling winds made it apparent that winter would arrive early this year and there might not even be an autumn. So she thought it would be best to wear them anyway. She then put on a black leather belt and her signature headband and headed for the door. She walked down stairs to see her mother cooking breakfast. She walked over to the counter and took a seat in one of the empty stools.

"Good Morning Mother!" Astrid spoke as she scooted the stool closer to the counter.

"Good morning As…Astrid, you look beautiful." Ingrid nearly dropped the pan she was holding when she saw her daughter. In all her years she had never seen Astrid dress this way, but she couldn't help how proud she felt. Not only was her daughter the best shield maiden on Berk, but she was also the prettiest.

"You're really sweet on that Haddock boy aren't you." Astrid couldn't stop her cheeks from reddning at that statement. "Ah well he's a lucky man I'll give him that." Astrid rolled her eyes even though she loved her mother very much she couldn't help but to be annoyed at the fact that she was so nosy. "Which reminds me Astrid, Hiccup came by this morning while you were asleep and said he wanted you to meet him at the cliff by the harbor for your date."

" Oh well I better get going th…" she got up, but her mother stopped her before she could reach the door.

"Ah Ah! You sit your rear end in that stool missy you and I are going to have a little talk." Astrid realized that she was stuck so she slowly walked over to the counter again dragging her boots across the floor. Her mother started to speak again as she brought her daughter a plate with an egg and two steaming sausages on it.

"Now eat up, you're not going anywhere until you eat at least that." No matter how much Astrid didn't want to admit she was pretty hungry. "So I did you a favor this morning by giving that boy a much needed haircut and made him shave that scraggly beard of his so in return I want a straight and honest answer."

Astrid looked confused and asked, "Well thank you for doing that for me, but what is the question." As she finished she took another bite out of the sausage in front of her.

"When do you plan on marrying Hiccup." Astrid nearly choked on the sausage in her mouth upon hearing the question.

"Wha-cough- what?!" She was barely able to keep from spitting the food onto the floor.

"You heard me young lady, almost the entire village is talking about it and I would like some grandchildren before I'm gone."

"Grandchildren! Mom I'm only 17!"

" So that's about how old I was when I was pregnant with you."

When Astrid thought about it this was true even though she's only 17 a lot of girls were married off by her age. Some had 3 kids by then too. She thought some more until she figured out what to say,

" Well I guess it will be whenever Hiccup decides to propose if he ever does."

"Splendid I'll go speak with Stoick so we can start writing up a marriage contract, and don't worry dear he's bound to propose sooner or later." With that Ingrid left and was on her way to the Mead Hall to find Stoick.

Astrid could not believe what had just happened. She was just going on her first real date with Hiccup and her mom was already talking about marriage. In fact up until recently Astrid was confident she never would get married. That is until she realized how much she cared for Hiccup. She wouldn't mind getting married she just thought it could stand to wait a little longer. She thought about it more as she stepped out the door into the bright summer morning, maybe today wasn't the day to tell Hiccup about her discussion with her mother. Besides, it was actually nice out for a change and Astrid saw that as a good sign for her date with Hiccup.

She was just about to pass the forge when someone called her name, and to Astrid's surprise it was Heather. "Astrid! Astrid wait up!" Astrid really didn't want to get into a fight right now. She was in a good mood, in a pretty dress, she had left her weapons at home and more importantly she was on her way to see Hiccup. But for some reason she stopped and waited for the brunette to approach her.

"Thanks for waiting, I really wanted to talk to you."

" Yeah, yeah just hurry up about it I don't feel like fighting right now I'm on my way to go see Hiccup."

" Well I can see that based on that beautiful dress your wearing, so what's the occasion." She asked with a quizzical look on her face.

" Well if you really want to know it's Hiccup and I's first real date."

" Wait a minute, you and Hiccup have never been on a date together?!"

" Yeah so shut up about it okay. What do you even want." Astrid was really starting to get annoyed now.

Heather gave a sigh before she spoke, " Look Astrid I'm really sorry about everything okay. I wanted you to know that I'm done with Ruffnut, she's nothing but trouble. I knew what we were doing was wrong, but she pulled me into it. I just wanted you to I'm truly and sincerely sorry."

Astrid was speechless, " Wow, um thanks." She didn't know what to say so she said nothing. They were silent as they walked together in the direction of the harbor until Heather broke the silence.

" That really is a beautiful dress where did you get it?" She spoke as she admired the dress with envy.

"Uh from trader Johann, I got it during his last visit a couple of months ago." She said as she gave a small smirk that someone else liked the dress as much as she did, now she would only have to wait and see what Hiccup thought.

"Really what did you trade for it?"

"Um well I had to trade my silver bracelet, two chickens, and a weird gem I found on the shore, trader Johann called it a pearl. He said they were really rare, but I didn't have any use for it. Besides I never wore that bracelet, and those chickens hadn't laid any eggs for almost a week, so it was a pretty good deal for me."

" Cool so I'm guessing it's a surprise for Hiccup then huh."

Astrid was a little hesitant to answer, after all she still had to rebuild her reputation and if people thought she had gone soft then it would be all over. But why did it even matter, I mean the whole village was already talking about her and Hiccup getting married so why should she care. " Yeah, but don't tell people about it okay."

" My lips are sealed. Well I got to go I'll see you later okay."

" Yeah see ya." And with that the brunette was gone. Astrid still didn't completely trust Heather, but it was nice to be able to talk to someone. Maybe she really was sorry. Who knows maybe my luck is finally turning around she thought.

She sped up her pace as she was almost to the top of the hill. When she finally got up there she saw Hiccup in his riding gear tightening a pack on Toothless's saddle. As she walked closer Hiccup turned to greet her. But he didn't say anything he just kept staring at the girl in front of him utterly speechless.

Astrid was terrified. Had she over dressed, did he hate it, was he mad that she wasn't here earlier.

"Wow, Astrid you look… AMAZING!" She was instantly relieved and overjoyed that Hiccup liked the dress. The only thing that bothered her was he was still eyeing her like a dragon at a basket full of fish.

"He hem, well if you're done staring you can tell me what we're doing for our date." She laughed a little bit as she walked over to him and gave him a peck on the cheek.

"Huh oh yeah right well that's a surprise, but the date does include a flight for a little while."

"Humph, fine, but I'm sitting behind you this time." Hiccup chuckled a little as that she was obviously referring to the night in the cave. Besides he loved the way Astrid would cling to him as they soared through the air. While Astrid hopped on to Toothless back Hiccup tightened down the last of the pouches on the saddle and climbed on in front of Astrid.

" You ready bud!" He called out to his best friend. Who then turned his head to show his smiling gums.

And with that Hiccup clipped in his prosthetic before they shot up into the sky. After a few seconds they were high above the clouds over Berk. Astrid loved every moment as they flew diving in and out of clouds holding on to Hiccup both for dear life, and for the enjoyment of it. Only now did she feel how Hiccup's once bony stomach and back had transformed into a fine layer of muscle. He definitely was not considered muscular by any Viking standards or anyone's standards for that matter, but Astrid didn't care. Hiccup was here with her and that's all that mattered.

After about twenty or so more minutes of flying they slowly descended down to a tiny island covered in purple flowers. They landed near a small cave in a rocky outcropping in one of the opening of the field there was a cloth laid out on the ground. Astrid finally realized that they were going to have a picnic together as Hiccup pulled out a basket and walked her over to the cloth and sat down.

He then started to pull out some bread, two pieces of mutton, and a pot with a lid tied on to it. He then broke the loaf of bread in two and handed a piece to her. As she took a bite she couldn't help but eye the pot as she wondered what was inside of it. Hiccup obviously had noticed her so he pulled out two bowls and took the lid off of the pot and poured out a stew into each bowl.

"It's a stew I made, Dad usually loves it so figured you would like it too." As Astrid took the bowl she stared at the contents suspiciously. It looked a little weird, but she didn't want to offend Hiccup after all he did try her yaknog during Snoggletog so she had to try it. She lifted the spoon to her mouth and tilted it into her mouth.

" Oh my gods Hiccup this stew is amazing!" Astrid was being completely honest the stew tasted fantastic. She wondered if there was anything Hiccup couldn't do.

"Ha-ha well I'm glad you like it." Hiccup chuckled as Astrid had already finished the remainder of the bowl and was asking for more.

They spent the next almost half an hour eating Hiccup's wonderful food and drinking a jug of mead he had brought along. They laughed as they talked about the things that had gone on during their separation. Each telling stories about what had happened when one of the dragon academy students tried to ride his gronkle backwards or when Tuffnut was attacked by a pair of stoats on their first day on the island. They were just about to finish when out of nowhere lightning cracked across the sky. They had been so busy talking that they didn't even notice the black clouds over head. As it started to rain they ran for the cover of the cave where Toothless already was lying down.

After they had both gotten into the cave Hiccup went over to the saddle and pulled out a large blanket.

" It looks like we may be here for a while." This of course was perfectly fine with Astrid she loved the alone time with Hiccup. After he laid the blanket on the ground they both sat on it and looked into each other's eyes. Suddenly though Hiccup jumped up in excitement.

"Oh I almost forgot!" He ran over to the saddle and dug into one of the pouches. After he found what he was looking for he ran back over and sat on his knees and showed Astrid what it was. It was a necklace with a silver chain, on the end were two dragon scales one blue the other black. They sat on either side of larger pendent that was a dark green color.

"Hiccup it's… it's beautiful I love it."

" Here let me put it on for you." He said with a grin as he was obviously ecstatic that she loved her gift. She gladly lifted her braid so as to make it easier for him to put it on. After that he moved back in front of her as she admired the necklace.

After a few seconds she leapt forward on top of Hiccup as she kissed him. They laid there kissing and holding each other. When they broke for a breath Astrid spoke, " Now it's time for me to surprise you." Without getting off him she sat up and began to unstrap her belt. She tossed it to the side and started to lift her dress off when Hiccup opened his mouth obviously about to protest. Astrid quickly covered his mouth with her hand as she spoke. " You're not talking me out of this Hiccup I already told you that this was going to happen when I wanted it to."

Realizing resistance was futile he laid his head back and tried to mentally prepare himself for what happened next. Astrid had finally gotten the dress off and now sat on top of Hiccup in nothing, but her leggings and her breast band. She then leaned down again and started to take off Hiccup's shirt. After the cloth was removed Astrid slid her hands up and down his bare chest feeling his warmth and the heavy rise and fall as he breathed. She moved towards his mouth with hers now and when they met it was a very passionate kiss. Astrid licked at Hiccups lips begging for entrance into his mouth. He gladly allowed her in as their tongues wrestled for dominance.

When they pulled away for air, Astrid whispered into his ear. "Hiccup I want you to take off my breast band." Hiccup gave a very loud gulp as she finished. He was unsure at first, but then Astrid guided his hands to behind her back. From there Hiccup was able to untie the bindings holding the band in place. As he pulled one string loose the rest followed as the garment fell to the floor. Astrid's bare chest was now directly in front of him, but he didn't make a single move. So again Astrid took his hand and lifted it to her chest and placed it on one of her breasts. She nearly moaned out loud as Hiccup's curiosity got the better of him as he squeezed it. He began to get bolder as he brought his other hand up and began to fondle them both.

At this point Astrid was getting perhaps a little too excited after all this was supposed to be for Hiccup not her. She slowly got up and sat on her knees as she untied Hiccup's pants and pulled them off. After successfully tossing them to the other side of the cave near the sleeping Nightfury, she had one challenge left. All that stood between her and Hiccup's manhood was a thin pair of boxers. She easily pulled them off, but then sat there in shock. Hiccup's member stood at full mast in front of her, and she was terrified. How was that supposed to fit there. She was almost sure she would be ripped in half.

Astrid then decided to take it into her hands which caused Hiccup to give out a loud grunt. After she was sure that he could continue she started to slide her hand up and down the full length of his shaft. This is when Astrid got an idea. She had heard about it from some of the older women of the village and once read a very detailed book about the subject. Hesitantly and without warning she leaned over and engulfed the tip of Hiccups manhood in her mouth. Hiccup then let out a loud moan of pleasure. She then slowly lowered her head and took more and more into her mouth until she felt it hit the back of her throat causing her to gag. At the same time Hiccup began to speak in a very grunt like voice. "Astrid I'm about to… Ah." Astrid instantly knew what was about to happen. So she pulled her mouth off and as she did so Hiccup finally burst. Astrid was able to block most of it from hitting her face with her hand while the rest landed either on her still bare chest or on the cave floor.

Hiccup laid there completely exhausted it had taken a lot of him to hold that in for that long. As Hiccup laid there in a daze after what just happened Astrid eyed the suspicious liquid on her hand. Her curiosity soon got the best of her though as she slowly brought her hand to her mouth. She then hesitantly licked what was on her hand off and swallowed it. It didn't taste bad, but Astrid wasn't sure if she would be willing to swallow it again. After a few more seconds Hiccup finally came to his senses.

" Wow Astrid that was amazing." A few more seconds passed as Hiccup thought to himself, " Hey Astrid would you mind if I did the same thing for you." Astrid was both shocked and aroused by this question. She could feel that her underwear was now soaking wet, but she was curious as to what it would feel like. So she said nothing, but simply nodded as she began to pull off her leggings. "Wait I want to do it." Again this surprised Astrid, but she was happy that Hiccup had some new found confidence in the situation. Hiccup had quickly pulled off the leggings and was now slowly removing her soaked underwear. Astrid was now completely naked in front of Hiccup. They both moved rather slowly as Astrid slowly spread her legs allowing Hiccup to her entrance. He brought one finger forward and pushed it in. He watched as one, then two, then three fingers disappeared into the folds of her entrance. Astrid moaned louder and louder as he moved each finger in and out of her entrance.

He then removed his fingers and wrapped his arms around her thighs and brought his mouth closer and closer to the moist cave entrance. Out of sheer curiosity he ran his tongue from bottom to top. As he continued Astrid moaned louder until she finally screamed out in pleasure as his tongue passed over a small bump. Again he ran his tongue over it again and again poking and prodding at it with his tongue. As Astrid got closer and closer to her climax she began to close her legs around Hiccup's head. " Hiccup I'm almost the…Aahhhhh." Astrid screamed out during her orgasm that was being released all over Hiccup's face. She fell backwards in exhaustion. Hiccup licked his lips, but instead though Astrid's juices tasted good. So Hiccup quickly cleaned off his face and moved up closer to Astrid taking her into his arms. He pulled the edges of the blanket over them as they both slowly passed out from exhaustion and pleasure. They both laid there spooning together. Neither could be happier at the moment as they drifted off to sleep in the cave together with the slow rhythm of rain drops outside.

**So that was Chapter 8 I hope you all liked it. I hadn't originally planned on the lemon being in this chapter, but it was a perfect opportunity. Also I felt the bit with Heather was necessary for a later chapter that is soon to come. Also yes it is a huge foreshadowing about the conversation Astrid had with her mother. And also that was my first lemon I hope it was good. I didn't think either Hiccup or Astrid was ready to go all the way so that is going to wait.**

**So let me know if this chapter was good or bad. I'm actually terrified right now of what you guys might say, but I need to hear it if I'm ever going to be a better writer. So please review and tell me your thoughts whether they are good or bad. Thanks again for reading!**


	10. Chapter 9: Hidden Fears and Feelings

**Chapter 9**

**Okay it's official. This story is completely taking over my life. I can't think about anything but the next chapter. Worse thing is I only come up with the better ideas at night so I stay up all night and write so I don't lose the thought. So easiest solution is to keep writing and update faster until the stories done (which will be around chapter 25 or so). **

**So on to more important things I like what you guys are saying in your reviews and pm's and you guys are right. But I don't want to go back and redo a chapter because then people will just get confused. So I'm going to try and fix it in the beginning of this chapter. And like I promised this will NOT turn into a full on smut story. The lemons will be spaced out throughout the story.**

**Also if you were wondering what I'm talking about when I say I messed up the last chapter. I'm talking about how everything was set up well like Astrid wanting to be pretty for the date, the date itself, but the lemon had no set up what so ever (Thank you for pointing it out to me Sweettea8). So I'm fixing it. Don't worry though there will be more than that in this chapter. I just want to make sure this story keeps going the way I planned to.**

Astrid felt a cold chill move up her spine as she jolted awake. She was freezing cold as she furiously reached around for something warm. It took her a little while as that she kept her eyes shut in a hopeful attempt to go back to sleep. Just as she was about to give up and open her eyes a blanket came out of seemingly nowhere and was placed perfectly over her shivering body. Sadly though it was too late she couldn't fall asleep after that so she decided to lie still and enjoy the warmth that the blanket brought to her.

As she laid there she began to wonder where the blanket mysteriously came from. Then like a slap to the face it hit her. The memories of what had occurred a few hours ago suddenly flooded into her mind. She was in a cave alone with Hiccup and they had slept together, NAKED! As the sudden shock flowed in and out of Astrid's mind she realized that this wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

After all she did in fact love Hiccup and Hiccup loved her, she was the one that had come up with the idea in the first place, and most importantly she had been waiting for this to happen since her 17th birthday; which was almost a year ago. There were only 2 problems at the time though; one was that Hiccup was at his chief training and the other was that stupid lovely dream of hers.

She and Hiccup had been technically dating for a little less than 2 years at that point; that was when she had that dream. She hadn't known what it was about so she had gone to see Gothi about it. According to Gothi, her dream was actually a vision into her own future, which was both extremely exciting and extremely terrifying at the same time for Astrid.

She decided to ignore the thought of the dream for now as that it didn't matter for right now at least. She needed something to get the dream off her mind. The best idea she could think of was to wake up Hiccup, but when she reached for him he wasn't there. Her eyes shot open in a state of fear and anger. What she saw next caused the fear to dissipate, but the anger turned to rage. Her clothes were neatly folded on a nearby rock, but she was still in the makeshift bed naked while Hiccup was over by the opposite wall building a fire. How dare Hiccup leave her alone like that. As she is about to throw herself into a tirade and pummel Hiccup she gets an idea.

With a grin on her face she slowly and quietly got up and sneaked across to where Hiccup was now sitting as he looked into the fire. She had him right where she wanted him. She lifted the blanket in her hands up and in one quick movement she threw it over Hiccup's head and pulled him backwards. Although her plan didn't go quite as she planned. Since Hiccup had his guard down it was much easier to pull him back then Astrid had previously thought. So instead of pulling him to the ground she pulled him directly on top of her.

As the two fell to the ground they both gave a small shriek of surprise. Finally Hiccup landed directly on top of Astrid, his face still covered by the blanket. His head was on Astrid's stomach when Hiccup finally stopped squirming and Astrid was able to breathe after the wind was knocked out of her.

Still coughing she spoke, "Damn it, why do my plans never work." She then sat up with Hiccup's head still in her bare lap. Hiccup then realized who his attacker was and relaxed as he began to chuckle.

"Ha-ha it's because you don't think of the things that could change the outcome." He said as he lifted the blanket from his face and stared up past her breasts into her bright blue eyes looking back at him. She ran her hands through his hair as she thought about what he said. It was mostly true which she hated, but she loved that he knew so much about her that he was always able to help her.

"Yeah, but maybe this plan will work better." She then began to pull him up further and closer to her. She then leaned over his shoulder and began to kiss him while she slid her hands down his chest in order to remove the layers between her and his bare skin. After his shirt was off she moved out from under him without breaking the kiss. She then moved down past him and brought her face to the string tying his pants around his waist.

She quickly removed the pants and boxers and stared in wonder as Hiccup was fully erect in front of her. From this angle it seemed much larger and much more intimidating. Without realizing she froze, unsure of what to do.

"Astrid are you okay?" Hiccup was now very concerned with how she was acting right now and he couldn't figure what was bugging her. He got up and pulled Astrid into his arms.

"Astrid please answer me."

"It's not you Hiccup it…it's me."

"Look Astrid if you don't want to do this kind of stuff then it's fine. We'll never do anything like this again if you don't want to."

"No, no, no I…I do. I've wanted to for a while now. It's just I'm…I'm afraid ok."

"Afraid? What are you afraid of?" Astrid pulled herself in tighter now.

It took her a few seconds to answer, but eventually she was able to get it out. "I'm afraid of messing up okay."

"Huh?" Hiccup was really confused now he had never known Astrid to get scared easily especially of messing up. As he thought about this he reached over for the blanket and wrapped it around Astrid. They sat there in silence until Hiccup decided to say something. "Why?"

Astrid jumped to her feet upon hearing him speak. "Because I want everything to be perfect and I don't want anything to go wrong." She was trying to be serious through this conversation, but it's very difficult when you're naked, cold and can't stop staring at your boyfriend's bare body.

"Astrid everything will be fine. Let's get dressed then we'll talk about this later okay."

Astrid liked this idea she really didn't think this was the time or place for this anyway.

Hiccup said nothing as he started gathering his clothes. It was only now that Astrid realized that Hiccup wasn't wearing his prosthetic. That's probably why it was so easy to pull him down she thought. She couldn't help, but stare at the stump. It was almost completely healed by now except for the very obvious scar that ran from one side of his thigh to the other. At this point Astrid was now fully dressed again, and had been caught staring by Hiccup. He then made a desperate effort to get to his prosthetic as quickly as possible.

Hiccup hated when people stared at his leg, and Astrid knew it. After all this was the first time she had ever seen the just the bare stump. According to Gobber Hiccup hasn't shown his stump to anyone besides him and Toothless (the only reason he showed Gobber was so that Hiccup could learn how to take care of it and clean it). Hiccup had never even allowed Stoick to see it.

And now Hiccup was drastically trying to hide it from Astrid, but as he reached over the rock he was sitting on before he fell slumped up against the boulder. He was silent, he didn't move a muscle, and he knew Astrid was watching him. He felt so ashamed, Astrid the one person he cared about the most in the whole world, the woman he would lay down his life for was seeing him in his most pitiful state of sorrow.

This brought a tear to Astrid's eye. She had never seen Hiccup this way before, sure he would often sit quietly alone, but this was different. Hiccup didn't care about the physical pain of his injury; he was unconscious through it anyway. It was the emotional pain that left the biggest scar.

He got that scar trying to protect the village, he got that scar trying to protect the dragons, he got that scar trying to protect her.

Now was not the time for her to lose herself though. Every time she couldn't be strong or she was in a state of panic or depression he was there to comfort her, physically when he could and spiritually when he was away. Now she had to be strong for him.

So she quickly gathered herself and quickly yet confidently walked over and picked up the prosthetic, while Hiccup still slouched up against the opposite side of the rock staring down into his lap as a few tears trickled down his cheek.

Astrid studied the contraption in her hands as she walked over to the sulking motionless heap in front of her. After she was confident that she knew how to put it on she kneeled down so that she was level with the boy in front of her. She cautiously and slowly reached for the stump so that she wouldn't startle him. When she finally touched the soft and squishy flesh she saw almost an electric shock travel up Hiccup's body as he tensed his muscles.

She waited a few seconds before she proceeded. It was a simple design with just to leather buckles that wrapped around his leg. So with quick and decisive hands she put it on perfectly, almost as if she were born to do it. After she was sure it was on correctly she looked to Hiccup and saw him still in his depressed state. She inched a little closer now as she delicately lifted his chin with her finger. When she saw his face she could see all the pain and suffering that he had endured throughout his life, from the terrible childhood, the loss of his mother, and right now. Everything had been bottled up for so long and now it was all coming out. Without moving her hand she wiped away his tears with her thumb and smiled as she looked into his eyes. Those dark green eyes that made her feel like she was lost deep in a forest and never wanted to leave.

She pulled him into her as he wrapped his arms around her. She stroked his hair as she whispered into his ear. "Hiccup I love you, and nothing will ever change that." She pulled her head away so that she could look at him. "But if we're going to be together we're eventually going to have to deal with this. No more of just you or just me, we do everything together now." Hiccup couldn't help, but smile as he pulled her into him again.

"Oh by the way Hiccup." She spoke as they stared out into the morning air. They had spent the entire day in that cave without realizing

"Yes my love."

"You're getting a haircut when we get back." They both burst out laughing even though Astrid was completely serious about it.

**Okay! So I know that was a pretty long time in between chapters but that's because this was very difficult to think of. I really had a tough time with the part where Astrid freaks out, but after that everything just fell into place. **

**So I hope you liked this chapter, and I know some of you wanted the lemon to continue, but I don't think our favorite couple is ready yet. Another lemon will come in about three or so chapters. So please give me some awesome reviews. Love you guys and I'll try to update faster now that my vacation trips are over.**


	11. Chapter 10:Yelling, Secrets, and Shears?

**Chapter 10**

**Okay so I didn't get much feedback from the last chapter which really has me worried. Was it a bad chapter or are you guys just bored with the story now. If something needs to change let me know. P.S Whatever the majority of the people say is what I'm going with.**

**Also this chapter starts a couple hours after where the last one ended, and from now on I'm going to be showing some different POV's besides Astrid's. Mostly Hiccup's, but there will be others too.**

**Change in point of view will be shown like this XXXXX just like you see in other stories so I don't think it will be too difficult to figure out as you read. **

**Warning there will be a lot of foreshadowing in this chapter.**

"Hiccup! Hold still for Odin's sake!" Astrid laughed as she chased Hiccup around his own home with a pair of shears. She had hated what her mother had done to Hiccup's hair and she was intent on fixing it.

"Astrid stop leave my head alone, your mother already gave me a haircut!" Hiccup remembered the terrible experience vividly. Astrid's mother was far from delicate and careful while cutting his hair; she constantly tugged his head around by his hair which was very painful not to mention she cut his ear in the process. And he suspected the same experience with Astrid wouldn't be much different. The chase went on for a while longer, but now he was able to put the table in between him and Astrid where he felt safe.

"That's exactly the point now sit down. This is going to happen whether you like it or not so there's no point in resisting." The two had been so focused on each other that neither had noticed that Stoick was now standing in the door way with a smile on his face as he watched his son struggle in his current predicament.

"You know she's right son so you might as well get it over with." Stoick said with a booming laugh. So finally with a sigh Hiccup finally sat down and allowed Astrid to cut his hair to her liking.

"Fine just please be gentle." Hiccup said as Astrid stepped behind him while he sat on one of the dining stools. "Of course you big baby." Astrid said with a chuckle. Hiccup sat there as Stoick watched Astrid do what she could with his son's hair.

After her mother had cut his hair it looked like Hiccup rubbed his head against a Nadder. Astrid was able to get to look somewhat like what it was before he left only shorter. "I can't do much more with it now without shaving it all off so it will have to do for now until it grows out again."

Hiccup was glad it was over with, Astrid wasn't as careless as Ingrid, but it still wasn't what he wished to be doing at the time. All he knew was he was very hungry and had a very itchy neck.

Stoick then stood up seeing that Astrid was done and spoke. "Alrighty then, well Astrid I admire your handy work, but would you please excuse us I need to talk to Hiccup in private, a little father-son talk."

"That's fine, it's getting late anyway." With that she walked over to Hiccup and surprised him with a kiss on the cheek. "That's for the date and the lovely necklace." She started playing with the necklace as she walked out of the house and closed the door; as she walked out and closed the door behind her Hiccup stared in disbelief that he was dating THE Astrid Hofferson, he still felt like it was a dream.

**XXXXX**

"Okay now son we have a lot of business to talk about." Stoick said clasping one hand on his son's shoulder and used the other to bring his own chair over to him. This confused Hiccup for as far as he knew things had never been better on Berk.

"What exactly do we need to talk about? I mean I took care of the dragons before I left, I'm done with training, the village has plenty of food stored for the winter, Alvin and Dagur haven't been seen for almost a year now, I'm heir to the chiefdom now, and as far as I know I haven't had any major screw ups today." Hiccup took in a deep breath after he was done; he felt a sense of pride build up in him at the thought of how happy things were right now because of him.

"I know son, I know and I'm very proud of everything you've done for this village, but this is much more important than anything right now." Stoick now had a very serious look in his eyes which didn't make Hiccup feel very comfortable as he took a very audible gulp as he sat down in his own chair.

This had been the same chair he had since he was 7 so it was very small and had seen a lot of use in its earlier years especially whenever Hiccup destroyed something and Stoick was berating him about how he needed to stay inside during a dragon raid. So this is something that made Hiccup more uncomfortable as it brought up bad memories; which is another reason why Hiccup had actually asked Gobber to make him a new one the other day.

"It's about Astrid." Stoick said quietly which made Hiccup even more concerned. Did he find out what happened on their date, had Astrid been married off to someone from another tribe, or worse was it both. Hiccup was filled with fear as his father began to speak again.

"Calm down son, I only have a couple of questions." This helped to calm down Hiccup from the daydreams/nightmares going on his mind. "Do ye truly love Astrid?" Hiccup jolted upright in his seat, filled anger when he heard his father's words.

"OF COURSE I DO! HOW COULD YOU POSSIBLY ASK THAT AT ALL! SHE IS THE LOVE OF MY LIFE AND NOTHING WILL EVER CHANGE THAT!" When he finished Hiccup slammed his body back down into his chair causing it to crack. Stoick sat there silently staring into his son's eyes as a smile spread across his face. Hiccup was confused by what he was seeing, he had expected his dad to throttle him for his outburst, but instead Stoick the Vast was actually laughing.

When he finally finished laughing Stoick became serious again. "So ye did inherit something from me after all eh." Hiccup was confused by this. He was happy that in some way he really was like his father, but he didn't understand how.

"What do you mean dad?"

"What I'm talking about is when I was yer age yer grandfather asked me the exact same question bout Valhallarama that I just asked ye about Astrid, and I had the exact same reaction." Stoick said with a chuckle.

Hiccup was dumbstruck he didn't know what to say, so he said nothing. There was a long silence as he stared at his father until Stoick spoke again. "So, what are yer intentions with Astrid than."

Again Hiccup couldn't believe what he just heard, but this time he didn't know what to say. He had never thought about what he would do at this point, mainly because he thought he would never get to this point with Astrid; or any girl for that matter. Stoick obviously saw his son deep in thought so he spoke before Hiccup could answer.

"Ye know… she's waiting for ye to propose." Again could barely speak; he sat back in his chair and rested his head in his hand. He had always known that he would want to marry Astrid he just never knew how he would get her to say yes. Hearing this he just felt like a huge weight was lifted off his shoulders.

He then looked up into his father's eyes, "Well I better get started on the ring then."

Stoick jumped to his feet causing the house to shake, "Ha-ha that's great I'm so proud of ye son."

Hiccup spoke again quietly with a short laugh, "Ha-ha, that's the most times you've been proud of me then you've ever been."

Hiccup slowly got up from his chair and began to move towards the stairs. "Hiccup wait."

Hiccup stopped and looked at his father as he stood there and for the first time Stoick looked unsure of what to say. As Hiccup walked back down the few steps he'd gone up Stoick began to speak.

"I meant … uh to have this talk with ye…uh that day you gave Astrid that…um axe ye know that one ye made fer her, but I didn't know …uh exactly what to…um say." This was something Hiccup had never seen in his father before. Stoick the Vast had always been a very confident and determined Viking and had a commanding tone whenever he spoke to others. But now he seemed lost and doubtful. Maybe he inherited more from his father then he thought.

By now Hiccup had figured what his dad was trying to say and it was actually making Hiccup angry that after everything Stoick couldn't spit out an apology. Sure he had sort of apologized at the battle with the Red Death, but it's hard to forgive someone for a lifetime of resentment after one apology.

After a few more seconds Hiccup finally snapped. "Dad seriously since the day I was born you didn't like a single thing about me, you avoided me whenever you could, and after Mom died you didn't want anything to do with me!" Hiccup was now screaming furiously.

"Sometimes I think the only reason you saved me from being eaten by a dragon was so your pride and honor wouldn't be tarnished by losing your only son." Stoick never even lifted is head to look at his son as he continued.

"You weren't there when I needed you as a child when I was being picked on, you weren't there when Mom died, you weren't there when I shot down Toothless, and you weren't there when I needed you to believe me about the dragons. You were NEVER there!"

"And now you can't even spit out 'I'm sorry Hiccup for being a terrible father' or 'Forgive me for wishing you hadn't been born'!"

Hiccup felt like all the anger he had ever had was suddenly gone. he felt like he could really stand like he had never been actually able to stand up straight until that weight of sorrow and anger was released. It took another second for him to realize what he had just done. Then there was only silence.

**XXXXX**

Stoick was sitting in his chair while Hiccup stood there attacking him with a barrage of hurtful yells and shouts. They weren't physically hurting him; after all he was the loudest person he'd ever seen although Hiccup had just reached the top five of the loudest people ever. He had never seen Hiccup so angry; it was obvious that this had been bothering Hiccup for probably most of his life. What hurt him the most though was that every word Hiccup was saying was true.

He had never been a good father, but now he truly saw how terrible he was, how terrible he was to Hiccup. All this time he had thought that he had helped make Hiccup who he was today, but he was wrong, dead wrong.

Hiccup was the way he was because of himself. Through all the cruelness, the resentment, and the loneliness Hiccup managed to endure and be the kindest, smartest, and most brilliant man Stoick had ever seen. And Hiccup did that alone when he should have been there for him as a father.

When Hiccup finished Stoick had no idea what to say, Hiccup said more than enough for Stoick to realize that it would take a lot more than a sloppy apology to gain his son's forgiveness.

He looked at his son then back at the floor. Hiccup looked like a complete mess, and Stoick was not surprised. After a tirade like that anybody would look exhausted. Stoick just sat there until he was able to arrange words in his mind.

"I know." Hiccup's face had gone from anger to fear and now confusion as Stoick continued. "I know I was never there when you needed me, and I know I've always been a lousy father. But I'm going to try my best to make up for it."

"Hiccup you're all I have left, if I lose you I have nothing." He paused as he looked down and sighed. "Even if you never forgive me I want you to know that I truly am sorry for everything." The doubt was gone from his voice and it was replaced by sincere sadness.

Hiccup had a look of confusion on his face that changed to small grin. "I know dad. I know." He walked over and embraced his father. Stoick was surprised at first, but then happy as he knew that Hiccup did not completely hate him. This gave him hope that their relationship could recover.

**XXXXX**

It had been a couple of weeks since the date and winter was coming in strong, it would only be another week or two before the first snow would fall.

That being said the village was very busy as all the residents began preparing for the harsh winter that was to come. Hiccup and Astrid usually did whatever they could when they had the time. Their parents were preparing the two for what their lives would be like after they were married. For Astrid that meant her mother kept her home all day to help with chores like sewing and cooking, both were deeply hated by Astrid.

And as for Hiccup it meant that Stoick and Gobber worked him like an animal both at the academy, in the forge, and doing chiefly errands with his father. Also the Harvest Festival was coming up so there was a lot to prepare for. Whatever time he had to spare he either spent with Astrid, or more importantly making Astrid's engagement ring.

It was very difficult for Hiccup to get away from Astrid whenever he went to work on the ring. It seemed every time he walked into the forge she would be there not even two minutes later. For once he actually wished Astrid would leave him alone. Of course he would never say that at the risk of being thrown off a cliff.

So, usually whenever Astrid decided to pop in on him while he was working he would be forced to lie to her, but the problem was that he hated lying; especially to Astrid. He would always make up a story on how Gobber wanted him to make more saddles for the younger dragon riders or that he was making modifications to Toothless and his saddle. And for some reason she believed him and left him to his work.

**XXXXX**

Astrid was in a terrible mood. For the past couple of weeks she had been forced to do chore after chore with strict observation from her mother. Anytime she messed up or burned what she was supposed to cook she would be told to do it right two times for every time she made a mistake. And because of that Astrid literally spent the whole day trying to cook porridge. She finally was able to cook it right two times in a row around midnight, and due partly to the fact that all the ingredients were gone or burned Ingrid said it would have to do. Astrid told herself whenever she and Hiccup got married he would do all the cooking.

Sewing was a different story though she hated it at first, but after a while it seemed to come naturally to her. She was very proud of herself when she was able to finish all her chores around noon. This gave her plenty of time to go see Hiccup.

But of course if anyone said something about her going to see Hiccup she would gladly take a little side trip to beat them up first. Poor Tuffnut, after all these years he was still as clueless as ever.

So after thoroughly bludgeoning Tuffnut into a whining pulp she headed for the forge where no doubt Hiccup would be. As she approached the window she could see Hiccup in the back working on something.

"Hey Hiccup." Apparently he didn't hear her over the sound of him hammering something. Oh gods she thought. He's hammering without a shirt on.

Now usually this wouldn't have made a difference to her before he left for training, but just like many times before Hiccup proved that he had changed a lot during his training. Is back that used to be plain small and covered in freckles had transformed.

Now it was covered in a fine layer of muscle that would flex and move every time he brought the hammer down. His shoulders were now much farther apart and were dripping in sweat.\

Astrid shook her head widely as she turned and moved behind the wall.

She couldn't believe what she was doing. She was actually standing there and ogling Hiccup. She hated how Hiccup could make her personality change into one of those annoying girly brats that only think about their boyfriends all the time.

She took a step out from behind the wall when she heard him stop hammering. It just so happens that Hiccup turned around just as Astrid came into view.

"As…Astrid!" Hiccup yelped as he saw her standing there and he fell backwards knocking over a stand full of swords and axes. She couldn't help but smile a little. Even though on the outside Hiccup looked completely different she was glad that he was still that clumsy kid on the inside.

"Ho… How long have you been standing there?" He gulped.

"Oh about 2or 3 minutes now." She said with a small grin. "You didn't answer me when I tried yelling your name because you were too busy with that hammer.

"Oh yeah… um that well I'm working on something very important so… um I kind of don't have time to be with you right … um now if that's okay." He gulped as he stood up and moved towards the window. Just as he reached the window he jumped back.

"What! What's wrong?!" Astrid snapped after Hiccup startled, not scared, startled her with his reaction.

"I'm not wearing a shirt!" He yelled from the back as he searched for his shirt that he had thrown down earlier.

"Seriously Hiccup," She leaned and whispered loudly so no one else would hear, "We've already seen each other naked. Why does that matter?"

"I don't know it just does." Is all he could reply, after all she was right it really didn't.

"Come out from back there and tell me why you can't come with me." Her tone was halfway between asking and commanding.

Hiccup stepped back in front of the window, shirt in hand, " I told you I can't I'm really busy with something."

"Ugh fine, but can you at least tell me what it is you're working on." Astrid was now very irritated that she would probably spend the rest of the day alone, but she guessed that Stoick and Gobber were forcing him to work a lot more just like her mother was doing to her.

Hiccup froze which meant he was hiding something which mad Astrid want to know more. The problem was he wasn't saying anything. "Come on Hiccup. Tell me what you're working on!" She said as she made a movement to jump through the window to get a better look.

Hiccup then quickly moved forward as to block Astrid from getting in while he started stuttering to get an answer out. "It's …uh um a saddle. Yeah a saddle for one of the younger kids."

Astrid knew he was lying of course. Hiccup was good at a lot of things, but lying was not one of them.

"Oh really let me see." She moved again to try and go through the door, but Hiccup ran over and locked it.

"You can't." He yelled through the door.

"Oh and why not?" She said crossing her arms over her chest and putting her hip out in her usual irritated stance.

"Be… Because… um the kid said he wanted to be the first to see it. Yeah so I can't show you, sorry." He said through the door frantically.

Astrid was determined to see what he was working on, but decided she wouldn't be getting anywhere today on the subject. "Alright fine, but meet me down at the swimming hole at sunset. And I'm not asking so you better be there."

She then proceeded to walk out into the woods to train still wondering what Hiccup could be hiding from her.

**Ok I am so sorry for how long this chapter took. It wasn't really that I was busy I just couldn't quite figure out how to get what was in my mind onto paper.**

**Also I'm sorry if this chapter seemed rushed mainly because it was. I wrote most of it in a day and I was hoping it would come out better than it did, but I knew some people were desperate for an update so this is what you get.**

**Also I really need some feedback right now because I don't really know what I should do for the next couple of chapters.**

**So any feedback should be delivered ASAP. I'm honestly stuck and need advice.**

**P.S. If you saw this chapter posted earlier today then just letting you know you're not crazy I just took the first one down so I could add a few things.**


	12. Chapter 11: Failed Plans

**Chapter 11**

**Alright so I know this chapter is a little over due, but one thing about me is I'm a huge procrastinator which means I waited until the week before school starts to do my summer project. So that meant I had to put this story on hold for a little while. Sorry****!**

**Ok so this chapter is going to be half filler half important just so you know. It will start off right where the last one ended. If you don't remember where the last one ended I suggest you go back and read Chapter 10.**

**I've thought a lot about this chapter and I feel that a lot of people will like it, so I hope you're one of them. So enjoy!**

**(Hiccup's POV)**

"I'm so dead, so very dead." Hiccup was sprinting through the woods as fast as his feet… foot could carry him.

"She's going to kill me." He looked west as he saw the sun setting; it was almost below the horizon, falling below the open sea. He doubled his efforts, but his legs wouldn't move any faster.

As he could finally see the pond coming into view he saw Astrid on the other side sitting on a rock with someone else. Who is that guy, she wouldn't tell him to meet her somewhere just to see her with another guy, would she; no, Astrid would never do that, but still Hiccup couldn't help doubting his confidence.

Just as he was about to break into the clearing he started to call her name. "Aaass…mph!" He was immediately silenced by a hand over his mouth and pulled into a bush. From inside the bush he could see the two on the rock turn in his direction. Concluding that there was nothing there the two turned back to each other.

It was then that Hiccup turned to see it was Astrid that had grabbed him. "Astrid why would you…mph oomph." She covered his mouth again, and yelled in a whisper, "Hiccup do you not know how to be quiet!"

He pried her hand from his face and spoke with same raspy voice as he yelled/whispered back at her, "Not when crazy people pull me into a bush!"

"Well you were going to give me away so I pulled you in before you were seen." She continued with a little less yell, and a little more whisper.

"Good point, I'm just glad I was wrong." Hiccup immediately covered his own mouth when he realized what he had said.

"What do you mean you were wrong…You mean you thought that was me over there. Hiccup I would never do that, how could you even think that." She went back to more of a yell than a whisper as she socked him in the chest harder than she had in a long time.

"Well you see with their being hardly any light and how you told me to meet you here and, the uh…um; I'm sorry." He looked down in shame as that there really wasn't an excuse.

Astrid looked at him with pity as her heart filled with guilt, "Hey I'm sorry okay, I overreacted…again; after all, I thought the same thing when Ruffnut was all over you that night you came home." She lifted his head up to hers and looked into those deep green eyes. She gave him a quick peck on the cheek then turned back to the pair on the rock.

Hiccup on the other hand was flabbergasted, not only had he just felt the relief of a lifetime that Astrid wasn't cheating on him, but she also apologized for flipping out because he screwed up.

On the other hand, that punch really hurt; it was a good thing she hadn't punched the other side of his chest or he would be in an even more difficult spot. He slowly lifted his hand to his chest and patted the pocket that held the small wooden box. No doubt she would have broken the box and seen its contents to soon.

After reassuring himself that it was still there he moved closer to Astrid and made a small hole in the bush of his own to watch the couple across the pond. As he focused his vision he saw through the now dark forest that it was Fishlegs, and … wait a minute, Heather?

Hiccup backed away from the edge of the bush, and turned toward Astrid. "Since how long has this been going on."

Astrid backed up shaking her head, "I don't know this is the first time I've seen them together." They looked at each other then pushed back to their peep holes.

"I can't hear what they're saying, can you?" Astrid whispered.

"No, but based on the faces they keep just staring at each other like that I'd say that they're really into each other." Hiccup heard Astrid moving back so he did the same. When he saw her she was sitting cross legged and holding her head in one hand while looking at the ground.

"Astrid what's wrong, aren't you happy for them?" Hiccup was confused, Fishlegs was his best guy friend besides Toothless, and as far as he knew Fishlegs was for Astrid too, obviously he himself didn't count because he was now officially her boyfriend; he wasn't too sure how she felt about Heather though.

She looked up at him with a kind of surprised expression, "Of course I am, Fishlegs is one of my best friends, and I think I'm friends with Heather now so why wouldn't I be happy for them."

"I don't know you just look upset." Hiccup said as he gestured to her current posture. After this she let out a long sigh.

**XXXXX (Astrid's POV)**

Astrid sat there for a minute. She had been watching the couple for a while, and she really was happy for them, but she was also jealous. They were just like how she and Hiccup had been those two weeks before Hiccup had to leave for his stupid training.

They were spending everyday together from dawn until well past night fall. At the time she didn't know why they were spending so much time together, and although she would never tell anyone she even enjoyed it she actually loved every minute. Being alone with Hiccup was one of the best times of her life, at least until that night the day before he would leave when she and Hiccup were exactly where Fishlegs and Heather are now.

_(Flashback)_

"_It really is beautiful isn't it?" Astrid spoke as she leaned into Hiccup and looked at the starry night sky._

"_Yeah it is… It reminds me of you." Hiccup said as he wrapped his arm around her to pull her close and looked down to see her face brighten up at Hiccup's once in a lifetime smooth compliment._

_Astrid had never felt this way before, for once everything was perfect. She was here with Hiccup alone and no one could see her in one of her girly mushy moments that no one except Hiccup would ever see. No one was trying to kill them and the dragons were no longer a nuisance, which left her plenty of time to be alone with Hiccup. _

_As she thought all these happy thoughts she looked back up to Hiccup, he was frowning and looking into the sky. She reluctantly sat up and looked into his eyes as they met hers._

"_Hiccup…what's wrong?" She said slightly irritated that he was ruining her perfect moment._

_There was a loud scratching sound as Hiccup's prosthetic slid across the rock they were sitting on when he turned to face her. She watched him cringe at the sound until it was over. "Astrid," he paused for a second, this made Astrid want to choke him for his silence, "there's something I need to tell you I just don't know how to say it."_

"_So just say it, I was kind of comfortable, and would like to get back to it." She said sarcastically causing both of them to laugh a little. Maybe Hiccup was rubbing off on her more than she thought._

"_Alright…um I'm leaving." He said quickly and then turned away from her. Astrid was speechless she thought she was in a dream, more of a nightmare. Things were finally perfect and now he has to leave._

"_I should've told you this sooner, but we were having such a great time I…I didn't want to ruin it so soon." She looked at him as she was afraid to ask him._

"_I have to leave for this stupid chief training thing." He said throwing his arms into the air as he dropped his body to the ground in anger. He gave a very audible sigh before continuing, "I…I don't know how long I'll be gone my dad said it could take a year maybe two… I might not even… OW!"_

_Astrid jumped on him and glared at him through watery eyes. "Don't EVER say that EVER! UNDERSTAND!" She said as a single tear fell. She looked into his eyes as his were in fear and hers in sorrow._

_Then his faced changed back to serious like before. He slowly sat up with Astrid still on top of him, and pulled her into him. "I…I'm sorry." He pulled her closer, as she tightened her grip around his shoulders._

_She pulled back and looked at him with soft eyes, but she couldn't bring herself to say it. Finally after what seemed forever she was able to choke it out, "When?"_

"_We prepare the ship tomorrow night then we leave at dawn." There was a silent pause, "Astrid I… I want you to be there when I leave."_

_All she could do was nod and pull him close again._

_(End Flashback)_

She hated thinking about that night. Mostly because of the way she acted, but what would anyone say about it anyway? She didn't care; she'd beat up anyone that said something about it anyway.

She figured that maybe she was just jealous. Jealous that their happy time won't be interrupted like hers was. "It…It's just not fair. That should be us, but then you had to leave."

Hiccup was confused, "So this is my fault?"

"No, I didn't mean it like that." She paused and let out a sigh, "I meant that we never get to spend time alone anymore like we used to." Screw it she thought after all its Hiccup; he wouldn't tell anyone about how she's acting and if he did he would regret it.

**XXXXX (Hiccup's POV)**

"I know what you mean, I kind of miss that whole 'Technically a Couple' status we had." He felt the pocket again before he continued. "I promise though things will get better soon."

"Come on, I don't think these two will be leaving anytime soon." With that they snuck out of there hiding place and headed back towards the village.

Astrid still looked a little upset so he figured the only way to make her feel better was to give her what she wanted. "Hey Astrid what do you say we spend all day tomorrow together just the two of us, huh?"

With that her face lit up, "How come you only know what to say when I'm all upset."

"Instinct I guess," he said causing them to look at each other before they burst out laughing

"Ha-ha yeah ok because you're so great with your instincts."

"Ouch, words hurt to you know." He said with a grin.

"Hey you were gone for almost two years I have a lot of teasing to make-up for." They both laughed as Hiccup gave an accepting shrug.

"Okay so we'll have to sneak out early though meet me in the morning, WITHOUT being caught?" She said with a half serious half sarcastic glare while he nodded. They continued until they reached the edge of the village there Astrid gave Hiccup a hug and a quick kiss on the cheek before running home.

When she was gone Hiccup confidently started walking up the hill to his house. You know maybe he was getting better at this relationship thing after all. He went to sleep dreaming of what would happen tomorrow, and fell asleep with a smile on his face.

**XXXXX**

_She didn't know where she was, or how she got there. She let out a scream of pain, and then she saw Hiccup. He was standing over her and he was smiling. Before she could see any more the room around them faded and Hiccup began to disappear like dust in the wind. She called for him, but he didn't answer as the last of him was finally gone._

"Hiccuuuuppp!" Astrid shot up in a cold sweat gasping for air. She was in her room everything was quiet, except for Stormfly snoring in the corner of her room that is. She swung her legs off the bed and got up to walk over to the bucket of water she kept at the foot of her bed.

She threw a few splashes on her face before she decided to dunk her head completely. She was terrified, she hadn't had that dream in almost two months, but this time she felt like she had actually been in pain. She didn't dare go back to sleep so she got dressed, grabbed her axe, and went out into the woods. She just needed to get the dream out of her head with some training is what she kept trying to tell herself. She kept repeating it as she walked off into the still dark forest.

**XXXXX**

Hiccup felt great for absolutely no reason he had a great night's sleep and woke up early to get breakfast. Before he walked out the door he patted his chest to make sure the box was still there. After silently confirming that it was there he ran down to the village square towards Astrid's house.

He was just about to cross into the square when he heard a familiar whistle. He froze as he saw Gobber come and enter the forge. Now he was stuck because if he even tried to cross past the forge to get to Astrid's he would be caught.

But of course instead of doing the smart thing and going the long way around Hiccup tried to sneak under the window. He soon realized his blunder when he was in the air being suspended by an old man's hook.

"Ah now where do you think yer goin lad, yer work be here not out there." Gobber said with a laugh. Hiccup was obviously annoyed by now as the giant man set him down.

"Gobber can't you please just give this one day I promised Astrid we would spend today together. And she'll kill me if she finds out I got caught." He said pleading with the comical Viking.

"Oh say no more, say no more lad, be on your way. There's no way in Thor's name I'm getting in Astrid's way. Go on get out before I throw ye out." Hiccup was confused he expected a long speech about hard work or worse women. Women was not a subject Hiccup would ever be able to enjoy with Gobber.

"Really? You're just going to let me go just like that?" Hiccup asked as Gobber pushed him towards the door. He spoke once Hiccup was out the door.

"Well if it means that much to ye, ye can work double tomorra!" With that he slammed the door shut.

"Wait! What?!" Hiccup said as he turned back towards where the door was now closed. Oh well he honestly didn't care so long as he got today off. With that he ran to Astrid's house.

He began picking up speed as he came to the last corner. When he was in front of the house his prosthetic brought him to a screeching halt.

When he didn't see Astrid he decided to wait outside, after all he couldn't ask Ingrid where she was, they were supposed to be sneaking off today. That's when it clicked in his head. She wouldn't be here because she knew she would get caught. So Hiccup headed for the woods to where no doubt he knew where his love would be.

**XXXXX**

After about twenty minutes of walking he finally found what he was looking for. Astrid was leaning over a rock asleep with axe in hand. As he stepped forward he silently called her name, "Assttrriiddd. You going to wake up?" When he took another step he broke a twig underneath his prosthetic.

Suddenly without warning Astrid's eyes shot open as she let out a loud war cry, when she was fully standing up she instinctively chucked her axe in the direction of the sound, straight at Hiccup's head.

**Ok so that's the chapter and I was honestly contemplating whether or not I should do this for this chapter. So this is sort of my first cliff hanger. So you need to review because I thought this was pretty good one. **

**This chapter had some really good surprises, I hope. Also I felt like I should explain how things kind of happened when Hiccup was going to leave so that's where the flashback came from. And yes that second italics part was a piece of Astrid's dream, and more will be revealed later. So I'm desperate to hear what you think. So please review!**


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